Scarlet Embrace Original-version
by Darkmoon Overlord
Summary: The return of the piece that first gave the mad vampire his origins. Let's return to the origin of what birthed a popular OC and his interactions with Robin and Raven. Pairings: RobinxRaven, Rated M for a very good reason: Adult violence, language, content, and gore. Reader beware, this is not for the lighthearted.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Teen Titans. You all know the rest.

 **A/N:** Greetings to everyone. For those of you who are familiar with this original piece, I hope this made your day. For those who are new to it this story may seem to be a Robin/Starfire fanfic, BUT IT'S NOT! It is a Robin/Raven fanfic. I hope you all enjoy this as much as you've enjoyed Teen Titans: Inferno. I had started writing back in 2004. I have gone back and reread it and quite honestly missed it. So…let's give it another spin shall we?

 _ **xXx**_

 **Requiem of Blood**

The sun had begun to set, a clear blue sky slowly shifted into a variety of purple and orange. The sky blended into darker colors as the sun set, colors of blue and purple swirled together to welcome the coming night. The sky settled to a light pink and then darkened to a deep red. The sky is painted as though covered in blood. The sky almost seemed to be weeping for the approaching night. As the last rays of the sun vanished over the horizon, a red moon descended upon the blood sky. Its red glow brightened the already crimson horizon. Darkness began to cover a city known as Jump City, the City of Tomorrow.

A dark laughter could be heard echoing in the eerie night from on top of the tallest building in Jump City. Then a man stepped out of the shadows, as he walked to the edge of the roof, the shadows appeared to almost dance around his presence. The man looked up at the night sky with a devilish grin spread across his face.

"Such a lovely night, it's the perfect night for blood to be shed," the man said, breaking out in a wicked laughter. He took one step to the edge of the roof and jumped off the building, disappearing into darkness.

On the far side of Jump City, a small island rested in the cities harbor. A tall T-shaped tower stood at the center of the small island. On top of the tower sat a young hero. His name and skills were known to all for his accomplishments. Robin, the Boy Wonder, sat on the roof admiring the twilights of the night. It had been three years since he and the other Titans finally stopped all the H.I.V.E members. They managed to put away every villain that popped up, all except Slade. Not a single word was heard of about Slade; he just disappeared from everyone and all traces that he ever existed vanished with him.

In those three years, Robin had grown a few inches and had begun to fill out. His body was more muscular, but still slim and agile, his shoulders had become broader, and his face now looked more mature. He sat quietly watching the stars above him gleam through the darken sky. Out of the doorway came a young redhead. At first glance someone would think she was a model, because of the way her body was shaped. She was curvy and filled out in all the right places that would make any member of the opposite sex feel they befall an angel of beauty. Starfire had grown a bit taller over the three years, and her hair was slightly longer than it used to be, reaching down to her knees. Even though her body looked slender, her body had become more solid with muscles and toned to boot. She looked around as she walked out of the doorway, until she spotted Robin. She walked over to him and touched his left shoulder.

"Robin, what are you doing up here all alone?" Starfire asked curiously.

Robin looked up at her and touched her hand affectionately. "Nothing, Star, I'm just enjoying the sunset."

Starfire smiled softly down at him. It was on a sunset like this one that Robin confessed his true feelings to her. After they put H.I.V.E. down for good, Robin had brought Starfire to the top of the roof and told her he loved her. For the last three years they have been going out and spending all their time together when they got the chance. Starfire sat down next to Robin and wrapped her arms around his neck. Robin in return wrapped his left arm around her waist. The two snuggled up close, enjoying the other's company.

Robin felt like the luckiest man alive. He finally had Starfire and there hasn't been any sign of Slade. As much as he wanted to put Slade away, he was content right now with him gone; it couldn't get any better than this.

' _It can get better when I ask Starfire to marry me!'_ Robin thought happily, placing his right hand in a pocket that contained a ring.

He had been waiting for the perfect time to propose to Starfire. He decided on asking her on the same night he told her he loved her. Unfortunately, that night was still a month away.

' _I can wait a bit longer, it'll be worth the wait,'_ Robin thought.

Starfire shivered from the cold night air. "Why don't we go back inside, it's very cold out here…"

Robin wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her closer against his body.

He leaned close to her ear, and whispered lovingly, "With you here I never noticed the cold."

He kissed her softly on her lips. She leaned into the kiss, and they held each other for some time after that. When they stopped kissing, they got up and went back into the Tower, holding each other's hand as they walked down to join the other Titans.

A mile away from the Titan's small island, a sinister figure stood on the red bridge. He watched the couple through a cybernetic binocular in his mask.

"So, my pet Robin. You've chosen to give yourself to the Tamaranean. I simply can't allow that, not when you belong to me!" Slade said coldly.

~ _Two hours later_ ~

Cyborg came running into the living room. He hadn't changed much over the three years, except maybe his human muscles had become bigger and broader. He looked at everyone with a grim look.

"Guys, our least favorite members of H.I.V.E. are back, and their attacking a military factory!" Cyborg said.

A taller and slightly more built looking Beast Boy looked up at Cyborg. "You can't be serious! You mean Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth got out of prison?"

"I'm afraid so, pal, and that's not the only problem. Some of Slade's Drones are with them. I guess Slade got desperate and busted them out," Cyborg said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Dude, why can't they just go away?" Beast Boy whimpered, sagging his shoulders.

Robin readied his gear while thinking about Slade. _'…I knew Slade was going to show himself again some day. What has he been doing these last three years? He can't still want me to be his damn apprentice! That jerk really hates to lose anything!'_

Starfire went to tell Raven, who was mediating in her room, what was happening. The Titans set off and went to the factory as fast as possible.

 _ **xXx**_

Inside the factory, Gizmo was hacking into the base's computers, stealing all the weaponry plans and other important looking files. Mammoth was busy knocking out the last of the security guards. Jinx sat luxuriously on top of one of the factory's assault tanks.

"This plan is foolproof! Soon, the Titans will arrive, and we'll be long gone with the weaponry plans before they can stop us!" Jinx said with pride.

Mammoth dusted his hands, walking up to the tank Jinx was on. "Yeah, this is the easiest job we've ever pulled off. It'll take them hours to figure out we're back!"

A Birdarang zipped between Jinx and Mammoth; the two looked in the direction it came from, standing at the factory's entrance stood the Teen Titans.

"Try a few minutes!" Robin said.

Jinx flipped to her feet on the tank. "How did you find out so quickly?" Jinx demanded.

"Who else would try something stupid as attacking a military factory? Besides that, I keep a security alert link wired to my system. So I know when someone is busting into a place," Cyborg said, pointing his Sonic Cannon at them.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted.

Gizmo had quickly unhooked his backpack from the supercomputer and ran up next to Mammoth. "Hold on, dorks!" Gizmo said. He held up a remote control device for the Titans to see.

The Titans froze where they were, eyeing the device in Gizmo's hand.

"We're not as stupid as you think, you tin can reject! I set explosives all over this place. All I have to do is push this little button and this place is blown sky high!" Gizmo snickered, waving the device around in the air.

The device suddenly glowed green, then red. Gizmo cried out in pain and dropped the device. Starfire's right hand glowed green as she melted the device into a pile of scrap.

"I am sorry for harming you, but I cannot allow you to hold anyone in that fashion," Starfire said.

Gizmo grumbled and cursed at her, holding his burnt hand.

"Alright then, if that's the way you want it, fine! Okay, you guys, attack those losers!" Jinx commanded.

Mammoth charged towards the Titans. Gizmo brought out his mechanical legs and followed behind Mammoth. Behind them came a dozen of Slade's Drones, armed with laser handguns.

"Titans! Separate!" Robin said.

Starfire and Raven flew up into the air. Beast Boy changed into a gorilla and ran to the nearest enemy. Cyborg took aim and shot any of the Drones that tried to shoot his teammates. Robin ran forward and jumped on top of Mammoth's head and propelled himself off him to land on top of the assault tank; the force of Robin's jump sent Mammoth crashing face first to the floor. Jinx glared at Robin mockingly.

"So, the little birdie wants to play with me, huh?" Jinx sneered. She did a back flip off the assault tank and ran for the back of the factory.

"Hey, come back here!" Robin shouted, jumping off the tank, and chasing after her.

She ran around the machines in the factory. She turned every corner that came up, trying to lose the Boy Wonder in the machinery works. Robin kept up with her easily, running faster to catch up to her. She looked about for an escape route and saw an emergency exit door at the back of the factory. Robin reached out to grab the back of Jinx's shirt, but she rolled to the side and dashed to the emergency exit.

Robin stopped himself before he fell forward from his momentum. He spotted Jinx run out the emergency exit and ran to it. He came out the factory just to her go into a warehouse near the factory. He followed her into the warehouse, but when he entered, she wasn't anywhere to be seen. All that was in it were crates and scarps of metal littering the floor. He cautiously walked to the center of the warehouse, looking for any sign of Jinx.

"Where are you, Jinx?" Robin said.

Jinx flipped from her hiding spot on top of some crates right behind Robin.

"Right here!" She said viciously, and blasted Robin with her hex powers.

Robin reacted on instinct and rolled to his right, dodging the blast. At the same time, he threw three disks at her before rolling back to his feet. She let out an "Eep!" and flipped to dodge the disks. She misjudged the flip and landed hard on her rear. Cursing loudly and waving an angry fist at him, she said, "Why couldn't you have stayed still and let me blast you!"

Robin gave her a cocky smirk and pulled out his Bo-staff. "Because I'm the hero, and the hero doesn't go down so easily."

"We'll see about that!" Jinx spat, flipping back to her feet.

Jinx blasted Robin, and he dodged the attack with ease. He ran at her, preparing to strike her with his Bo-staff. Jinx tried to dodge his strike, but he came at her too fast. Robin slammed his Bo-staff right into her side, sending her crashing into a pile of crates.

"Scratch one for the hero!" Robin said, licking his index finger and making an imagery one in the air. He then walked over to where Jinx crashed to see if she was beaten.

Jinx groaned a little and tried to get up, but a pain shot up her side. She clutched her side and winced from the sharp pain. _'He broke my ribs! That fucker broke my ribs!'_ Jinx thought.

To say Jinx was pissed about her injury was an underestimate; she was furious! All that ran through her mind now was getting even with Robin by any means she could manage. She looked around for anything that could be useful. Her eyes landed on a pile of metal bars lying near her. She smiled wickedly as a twisted idea popped into her demented mind. On hearing Robin's foot steps, she laid back down, pretending to be unconscious. Robin glanced at Jinx, seeing how still she lied on the ground as he neared her.

' _I didn't hit her that hard, did I?'_ Robin thought. "I guess I don't know my own strength!" he said out loud, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't give yourself too much credit, loser!" Jinx snapped at him.

She hexed the metal bars when she slammed her hands down on them and sent them flying over her head. Not expecting the attack, Robin tried to dodge the flying bars. He managed to dodge to the side and miss eight bars, but five more flew at him where he dodged to. Three of the bars pierced him the gut and one drove itself into his right shoulder. The fifth one impaled him in the chest. The force of the blows sent him flying backwards, slamming him into one of the warehouse's support beams.

The bars drove deep into the beam, pinning Robin onto it. He screamed in agonizing pain, and tried to move, but every movement he made caused waves of unbearable pain throughout his body. He felt paralyzed at the spot. He couldn't raise an arm to try and free himself or else cause more pain on himself. Jinx got to her feet with difficultly, because of her ribs, laughing manically.

"You are so gullible! The Boy Wonder, falling for the oldest trick in the book! Well, not falling, more like impaling! Mahahaha!" Jinx laughed wickedly.

Robin tried to speak, but only started coughing up blood, a line of blood slowly dripped out of his mouth.

"That's what you get for messing with me!" Jinx shrieked happily. "If you couldn't see that one coming, then you don't deserve to be Slade's apprentice. I think I'll do him a favor and finish you off!" Jinx reached down and picked up a bar and walked over to him. She raised it up to strike the final blow. "Prepare to meet your maker! Good night, Robin!"

"Good night!" a deep devilish voice said.

Jinx only had time to say "Huh?" before something struck the back of her head. She fell to the ground with a heavy thunk, unconscious this time.

"Kids these days, the games they play become more and more violent!" the devilish voice said, chuckling wickedly.

A man appeared out of the shadows, as if he was always there. Robin thought his eyes were already beginning to play tricks on him. The man standing over Jinx had very pale skin, a devilish grin played across his thin framed face. He had a strong looking jaw line, with a straight lined nose. His eyes were deep red and had pupils like a cat's. He stood at 6'5 in height, taller than Cyborg. His hair was jet-black and streamed over his shoulders, pulled back in a loose ponytail. His bangs were spiky and long; one patch almost covered his left eye completely. The clothes he wore reminded Robin of a character out of the Matrix.

He wore a long black leather coat with a high collar. He had on a black muscle shirt and black leather pants. He was wearing ten belts around his thin waist, seven of them hanging off his hips diagonally, the other three wrapped tightly around his waist. All the belts connected with one another, making a web-like pattern around his waist. The boots he wore reached up close to his knees, a row of buckles climbed up the legging part of the boots. The feet part of the boots were encased in steel plates, the plates were made to fold in together; the design looked more for flexibility than protection. Robin struggled to move, but only worsen the pain. The grinning man stepped over Jinx's body and stood an inch from where the bars stuck out of Robin.

"Don't try to move. One of these things punctured an artery to your heart," the grinning man said, almost as if he was amused about something.

"W-Who are you?" Robin managed to say.

The grinning looked straight into Robin's eyes. His gaze made Robin feel like he was a small mouse being stared down by a predator, but strangely, it felt comforting. Looking into those crimson eyes made Robin forget some of the pain, throbbing inside him. There was something about this man that told Robin his was something not to mess with, but at the same time made him feel…safe.

"Who I am doesn't matter right now. What does matter is saving your life. Now, try to hold still while I see how bad these really are," the grinning man said.

The grinning man looked down at Robin's chest, his slit pupil eyes widened like a cat's as he gazed at Robin's chest. Robin tried to stay still, but his left arm kept twitch violently. The grinning man's grin turned into a frown, as he cursed, "Shit!"

"I-I-It's t-that bad, h-huh?" Robin said, coughing up more blood.

"I'm afraid so, the artery is too badly damaged. You will die very soon if something isn't done now," The grinning man replied.

"C-Can you get these things out of m-me?" Robin asked.

The grinning mad sighed heavily before answering. "Yes, but that will kill you instantly."

"W-What about my friends. Rav—!" Robin was cut off by another wave of pain.

"Your friends are still fighting, and I don't think your friend Raven can heal a fatal wound like this one," the grinning man said in a matter-of-fact tone, like he was having a normal conservation with Robin.

Grief and despair consumed Robin. He began to weep as he accepted the fact he was going to die, but that wasn't why he was weeping. He was weeping because he'd never be with Starfire ever again. He'll never have the chance to ask her to marry him and tell her he loved her. He cried as the thoughts of never getting to hold her in his arms anymore, to kiss her good-bye before he died. The grinning man began to laugh darkly suddenly. Robin looked up at him, confused by what the hell this stranger found so funny.

"You will be able to stay with your Starfire, Robin. I can still save you," the grinning man said, grinning devilishly again.

Hope suddenly reclaimed Robin's heart. "H-How?" he asked weakly.

"By making a choice, Robin. You can let me pull out these bars and end your suffering." He widened his grin into a wicked smile before continuing. "Or I can make you a Ruler of the Night!"

Now Robin believed he was totally losing it. _'What the hell is he?'_

"There's no time to explain that! You're losing too much blood, fast! I can't do anything until you make the choice, so make it before its too late!" the grinning man said through clinched teeth.

Robin thought he heard a bit of panic in his voice. He wondered why, but he knew he didn't have the time to be thinking about that. There was only one thing on his mind at that moment. "Will I still be able to be with Starfire?" he asked hopefully, a numbing cold began spreading throughout his body.

The dark grinning man smiled wider at Robin, revealing white sharp teeth to him. "You will be able to do anything your heart desires, if you embrace my gift! Time is running out for you, Robin, I can hear your heartbeat slowing down. So, which will you choose? Do you wish to embrace my gift, or to fade away in death's cold grasp?"

Robin thought only for a moment. _'As long as I can be with Starfire, nothing else matters!"_ With all his remaining strength, Robin cried out, "I want to live!" Then the pain stabbed at him tenfold.

The grinning man widened his smile more, and a set of white fangs were completely revealed to Robin. Without hesitation, the grinning man ripped off his shirt, showing off a very pale and toned chest. His skin gleamed with perfection, save for a scar over his heart. He had four small holes shaped scars lined up in a slight curl over his heart, it looked like someone dug there fingers into his flesh. With his other hand, he struck himself in the chest, stabbing his own fingers where his scar lied.

His sharp fingernails dug deeply, until they touched his heart, he never flinched once as he inflicted the wound on himself. He only grunted a little as he cut open his own heart a little. He hissed in the air and pulled out his hand, leaving a fountain of blood pouring out of his chest. Quick as lightning, he yanked out all the bars out of Robin. Before Robin could hit the floor, he grabbed Robin, and embraced him in a hugging manner.

He positioned their opened wounds together, allowing their blood to mix freely into the other's heart. Robin screamed like he never did before, the throbbing pain soon turned into a burning sensation. Every drop of the grinning man's blood set each nerve they touched on fire. The grinning man groaned slightly as he felt Robin's blood pour into his heart. Time stood still for Robin for what seemed like eternity, which was actually three minutes.

The grinning man pulled Robin away gently from him. He scooped his left arm under Robin's legs and held him around his shoulders with his other arm. The wounds on both of them healed up. Robin now had a perfect circled scar on his chest. All of his other wounds disappeared, as if he never was hurt. Robin had past out from the terrible burning sensation in his body and laid limp in the man's arms. The grinning man smiled devilishly down at Robin, he lowered his head so his face reached his left ear.

"Welcome to the night, my dark angel," he whispered wickedly, then he reared his head back and roared with an insane laughter.

 _ **xXx**_

 **A/N:** What do you guys think of my improvements? Tell me in your reviews and thank you all for your patience.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, but I do own Sin and this story.

 **Dancing Shadows**

Raven had finished dispatching the rest of Slade's robots. Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had defeated Mammoth and Gizmo on their own when Robin left. Raven used her telekinesis to wrap chains around the demented two. She walked up to them and glared coldly. She hadn't changed much the last few years, she grew a few inches, and her hair now reached down to her shoulder blades, but her emotionless exterior remained. If anything, she had become more distant from everyone. Her friends tried everything they could to make her lighten up, but in the end, she stayed the same. She was about to demand what Slade was planning when she suddenly felt someone in great pain. She fell to her knees, clutching her chest and gasping for air. It felt like something just stabbed her heart. She fought not to scream from the terrible pain. Whoever was in such pain felt very familiar to her.

'… _Robin!'_ Raven thought. It could only be him. She remembered seeing Robin go after Jinx when she ran off. They must still be fighting or worse she concluded to explain the excruciating amount of pain she was feeling just now…like her body was pinned to something like a butterfly on a bug collector's detail.

"Raven, are you alright?" Beast Boy asked, running to her side and helped her back to her feet.

Raven still was clinching her chest, as she whispered, "…Robin is in trouble!"

At hearing her beloved may be in danger, Starfire panicked, and said, "Where is Robin?"

"He's near. I sense he is in the next building from us," Raven said.

The Titans made sure Gizmo and Mammoth couldn't escape and left the factory and followed Raven to the warehouse. As they neared the warehouse, Raven sensed three people in there. Her powers told her one of them was Jinx, but it felt weak. She grew very worried when she sensed Robin was weaker…but whoever was the third person felt very strong, even though she could tell the person was weakening. And she could feel an eerie dark power from the mysterious person. It almost made her body shiver like a cold breeze was blowing over her when there was no wind at all. This person was dangerous, that much she could tell, but oddly, she didn't feel any malice. On the contrary, she sensed something close to satisfaction. She was very confused by this person, but whoever it was, she knew he or she had something to do with the pain Robin was in now. She could fell Robin slowly slipping away.

"We have to hurry! I feel Robin's life force weakening!" Raven informed the others.

"Robin!" Starfire shouted.

She flew on ahead, gaining in speed; she didn't waste time going through the door. She made one of her own. She shot a few starbolts at the wall, making a hole big enough for her to fly through. Raven disappeared into the shadows; she wanted to get into warehouse before everyone. Whoever this stranger was may be responsible for harming Robin. She didn't want anymore of her friends to suffer the way she felt Robin was. Beast Boy changed into a cheetah and ran for the door. Cyborg was doing his best to keep up with him. Before any of the other Titans entered the warehouse, Raven reappeared inside, and the first thing she saw was Jinx lying on the ground, unconscious. Then she saw that the floor under her feet was covered in blood. Panic crept up deep inside her soul.

' _Whose blood? Please, don't let it be Robin's blood I'm standing in!'_ Raven thought, as her panic grew worse.

She forgot about her fears when she heard a dark insane laughter behind her. She turned swiftly around and saw Robin covered in blood and in the arms of the grinning man.

"Who the hell are you and what did you do to Robin?" Raven demanded with white glowing eyes.

The grinning man tilted his head slightly to the right, smirking at her. "Hmm, who am I? Let's see…I've been known by many names. I guess…you can call me…Sin, for now…Yes, Sin will do fine." He crackled lowly at some unseen joke. "And for your information; that crazy little bitch over there injured your friend," he said, glaring coldly at Jinx.

He walked toward Raven as the others entered the warehouse. Beast Boy changed back into his human form, as he and Cyborg went inside. Starfire dashed into the hole she made and looked around the room. On seeing Robin covered in blood, she dove swiftly to the man called Sin.

"What has happened to Robin?" Starfire said with a fearful expression.

Sin handed Robin over to Starfire, who eagerly took him into her arms and stepped away from her. She didn't care one bit she was being covered in Robin's blood. She was too worried he was dead to care about the gore covering her body.

"Your loved one almost died," Sin said, smiling wickedly.

"Why are you smiling about that? Who the hell are you?" Cyborg said, pointing his Sonic Cannon at Sin.

Sin regarded his action and widened his smile more.

"I find many things amusing. Sorry if it disturbs you," Sin said, chuckling manically.

"My friends' pain is nothing to laugh about, freak!" Cyborg growled, charging his Cannon.

"Stop it, Cy! He probably saved Robin from Jinx. Shooting him isn't exactly a good way to thank him," Raven said.

"Humph, at least one of you can use their heads," Sin said, beginning to laugh again.

"Why you!" Cyborg growled, shaking a fist at Sin.

"Please, Cyborg. Do not be angry with him, he saved Robin!" Starfire said, walking up to Sin and bowed her head to him. "Thank you ever so much for saving Robin!"

Sin crossed his arms behind his back and bowed slightly at the waist. The movement made him grunt and place a hand on his head.

"Grh! You're welcome, little lady, but I'm not so sure you'll be thanking me afterwards. Once I tell you what happened to him, that is," Sin replied.

"What do you mean by that? What happened to Robin?" Beast Boy asked.

Sin wavered a little; he strained to straighten himself back up, still holding his head. "T-That will have to wait until tomorrow night. I drained myself _'saving'_ Robin." His voice stressed the word. "I must leave now to recover. Don't fear, I will return at sunset."

"Hold on! You can't just leave and not explain what you did!" Cyborg said.

"If I don't leave now, I won't be able to tell you anything," Sin growled.

"How will you know where we are?" Raven asked skeptically.

"I will know by wherever Robin is," Sin said simply, turning away from the Titans. He walked a few steps before turning his head to the side. "One thing you all need to know. Keep Robin out of the sunlight, if he is exposed, you'll lose him forever."

The baffled redhead was going to ask what he meant by that, but he vanished into the shadows.

"Okay…that was creepy!" Beast Boy said.

Raven pondered on what Sin had said. After seeing his appearance, she knew he wasn't human. _'But what is he then? And what did he mean we'll lose Robin if he's exposed to sunlight?'_ Raven thought.

She examined the blood soaked floor and the bloody support beam. She saw the five holes in it, the bars, lying a few feet away from the beam. The she glanced at Robin, seeing the five holes on his bloodstained costume. Yet, there were no wounds, except for the circular scar she could just barely make out on his chest. She remembered seeing a scar over Sin's blood covered chest. Then an idea formed in her mind, she couldn't be sure yet, but she understood what Sin meant now.

Raven walked up to the confused Tamaranean girl, holding out her arms. "Here, give him to me, Star. I can get Robin to the Tower faster than any of you," she said emotionlessly.

Starfire hugged him closer to herself, she didn't want to let go of him, but the stern look in Raven's eyes changed her mind quickly. Hesitantly, she handed Robin over to the empath. Raven put Robin's left arm over her shoulders and leaned his body against her thin frame.

' _He's so cold!'_ Raven noted on feeling his motionless body. If it weren't for Sin telling them that he was fine, she would have believed that she was holding a corpse rather than her long-time friend…

She pushed the disturbing thought away and teleported herself and Robin back to the tower, reappearing in her room. She would never allow anyone to enter room, except for Starfire on occasions. This was for an emergency though. Her room faced away from the sun and would be dark enough once she closed the curtains. Her room also would be more comfortable for Robin to rest in than any other room in the Tower.

Raven laid him down carefully on the floor and went over to her window and closed the curtains, making sure no sunlight could leak into the room. She walked back to Robin and removed his cape and shirt. She examined the damage done to them and whistled lightly. They were ripped up pretty badly, nothing but rags now. She threw them away in the trash bin and went into her bathroom, coming back out with a wet washcloth and started wiping all the blood off Robin and herself. She lifted Robin up telekinetically onto her bed and sat on the edge of the bed, glancing at the scar on his chest. She ran her fingers over the scar, feeling his cold and smooth skin. She glanced at the rest of his body. His skin had gone paler than her own. All his visible muscles had become more toned, and his body looked thinner than before. While taking notice of these new changes of him, she allowed herself to smile as she examined at his body.

' _Starfire is a lucky girl. Robin has a hot body!'_ she thought with a slight blush on her cheeks.

She got off the bed and wrapped him in her blankets. She tucked a pillow under his head and brushed a few stray hairs off his face. Raven watched his face for a few more minutes before leaving him to rest. She walked to her door and glanced at Robin one more time.

' _He's in for a rough time. He's going to need all our help,'_ Raven thought with deep concern.

She shut and locked the door and walked to the living room to wait for the others. As she walked down the hallway, a pair of red eyes blinked into existence in the shadows in her room, looking a Robin. A dark chuckle filled the room before the red eyes disappeared back into the darkness.

A/N: What you guys think of this chapter? Tell me what you guys think in a review and thanks to all again for all the wonderful reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not Teen Titans. I do own this story, though, and Sin, and anyone who tries copying him will suffer the consequences!

A/N: Sin is a character I thought up for one of my other stories I'm working on. In a way, he is the alter ego in my mind, kinda scary when you think about it. AHAHAHAHAHA!

 **Hollow Truths**

The other Titans arrived home half an hour after Raven put Robin in her room. Starfire had dry and pale green eyes from crying over her hurt Robin. She entered the living room, hoping to see Robin awake, and smiling at her as she walked in. To her dismay, only Raven, who was sitting on the couch reading a book was there to greet her. She walked over to the couch and looked at Raven.

"Where is my dear Robin?" asked the heart fallen alien girl.

Raven glanced over her book. "In my room," she said in her monotone voice.

Starfire rushed over and stood right in front the dark sorceress with glaring, green glowing eyes. "What do you mean in your room!?" Starfire yelled.

Raven calmly went back to reading her book as she spoke. "Control your emotions, Star. Sin told us to keep Robin away from sunlight for the day. My room would be more comfortable than putting him in one of the storage rooms, don't you think?"

Starfire calmed down a little, but was still mad at her gothic friend. "You could have out him in my room, or his own! Uh? Who is Sin?"

Raven rolled her eyes. "Sin is the one we just met in the warehouse and no offense, Star, but your room is too… _bright_! Robin's room would be too easy for him to get out of, too…"

Starfire blinked for a moment, confused by what Raven had just said. "I do not understand that last part. Why would it be too easy for Robin to get out of his own room? Is there something else wrong with my poor Robin!" Starfire said, beginning to tear up again.

Raven hated when Starfire cried, it only reminded her that she couldn't. "Please stop crying, Star! I think Robin is all right…but I think we'd better be cautious, that's all. At least, until Sin returns and tells us what happened back there," she said.

Starfire stopped crying and sniffed loudly before saying, "If you say so, Raven. I will go and check on him now." She floated up and headed towards the door.

Raven closed her closed her book quickly, and said hastily, "Star! It would be better if you leave him be for now."

Starfire turned to face her. "I must be with him, Raven, he is my beloved! I have to make sure he is all right!" She said, placing a hand over her heart.

Raven knew Starfire's stubbornness matched her own; telling her anything while her mind was set was pointless when she got like this. She should tell Starfire her reason why she didn't want anyone to be near Robin right now, but she didn't want to cause more worry among the team, and she was hoping she was wrong…for all their sakes.

Raven sighed, and said, "…Okay, Star, but at least get some rest before Sin comes back."

"I shall," Starfire replied, leaving the living room.

Beast Boy and Cyborg came in right after Starfire left. They both looked very tired. Cyborg went over to the couch and sat next to Raven and sighed heavily, resting his face in his hands. Beast Boy came over, too, and joined them. He leaned on the edge of the couch with his arms crosses.

Cyborg looked up at Raven. "Raven, do you know anything about that grinning freak back at the warehouse?" he asked.

"Only that his name is Sin and claims to have _'saved'_ Robin from Jinx. By the way, what did you guys do with them?" Raven said.

"We dropped them off at the police station. We had to be careful with Jinx, because three of her ribs were broken, and she had a concussion. Whatever happened in there, Sin really messed her up!" Cyborg said.

"Like she wasn't already! Man, I wish I had followed Robin. I saw him go after that crazy bitch, but I thought Robin could handle her alone. Arh! I'm such an idiot!" Beast Boy said, grabbing his head as if he had a headache.

"It's not your fault, BB! It was mine! I didn't think Jinx would go and try to kill Robin…" Cyborg said sorrowfully. A tear ran down from his human eye as he remembered the time he spent with Jinx at the H.I.V.E Academy. He knew Jinx was bad, but he never thought she'd do something like trying to kill someone.

"No, dude, it was—!" Beast Boy started but was cut off by Raven with slamming her book down on the couch.

She stood up and looked at both of them. "It's pointless arguing about whose to blame. All that matters now is waiting for Sin to return and tell us what he has done to Robin," Raven said emotionlessly.

"What's that suppose to mean? What did Sin do to Robin?" Beast Boy asked, beginning to feel very worried for their leader.

"It's only a guess. I need to gather more facts before I make a proper conclusion," Raven replied.

"Well, I guess there is no point worrying till Sin comes back. I'm going to bed! This has been a very stressful night," Cyborg said, getting off the couch.

"Yeah…me, too. Night, Raven," Beast Boy added weakly.

They both headed off to their rooms. Raven said good night to them and put her book away. She got a pillow and used her cloak as a blanket and slept on the couch for the night. When they awoke the next morning, they found Starfire still with Robin, looking almost as pale as him. Cyborg tried to get her to eat something, but she refused all offers. She said she couldn't tear herself from Robin's side. The time was going by very slowly for everyone. They couldn't stand waiting for night to come. Beast Boy and Cyborg tried to pass the time by playing video games, but they couldn't focus on them like they usually could when things were so stressful. Raven tried mediating, but her mind kept wondering back to Robin and the mysterious man who called himself Sin.

Around evening time, a group of thugs broke into a jewelry store. Cyborg called in Speedy, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest for help, because Starfire refused to leave Robin, and Raven stayed behind to keep an eye on Robin. Cyborg and Beast Boy headed off to meet the other Titans.

Before Cyborg left he talked to Raven. "Are you going to be okay if Sin shows up before we get back?" Cyborg asked.

"Yeah, Starfire and I will be fine, if things begin to go for the worst. I'll send a distress beacon on my T-com," Raven replied. She would have added Robin, but she wasn't sure about him yet.

Cyborg gazed at her for a moment. He could tell when Raven was worried or not sure of something. She was like a little sister to him, and he didn't want to leave her, knowing that freak was going to be showing up some time tonight.

"…Okay, Raven, if anything even looks like it's going bad, call me right away. We'll get here as fast as will can," Cyborg said.

"All right, I will," Raven said.

Cyborg nodded his head, and he and Beast Boy quickly left the Tower. Ten minutes later the sun slowly blended into the sea, coloring the sky a dark purple and red. Raven went to her room to check on Starfire and Robin. She found Starfire sitting on the edge of the bed, stroking Robin's hair lovingly. Her usual happy smile wasn't on her face; she had on a depressive expression that looked very foreign on her. Raven quietly walked up to the alien girl.

"Hey," Raven said softly.

Starfire turned to look at her. "Oh, hello, Raven," Starfire said. Her voice sounded as if she has been crying recently.

Raven shook her head at the redhead, knowing she didn't get any rest, because Starfire was still wearing her blood soaked clothes. The blood had dried up long ago, leaving behind a huge bloodstain on her clothes, and her skin.

"Star, you need to get some rest. You'll only tire yourself out like this," Raven said.

"I shall once Robin awakens," Starfire whispered weakly.

"That's not a very good idea," a dark snickering voice said.

Raven and Starfire turned to face the door and saw Sin leaning against Raven's doorframe. He was wearing the same get-up as last night, with a new black shirt, and he had that devilish grin on his face.

"You finally came!" Starfire said.

"I'm a man of my word," Sin said.

"If you are a man," Raven stated coldly.

Sin eyed the dark sorceress amusedly. Raven suddenly felt very uneasy having those red eyes on her. She tried to not show it, but she started running a finger through a lock of her hair; a habit her developed when she grew out her hair.

Sin widened his grin and chuckle to himself. "So, you figured it out already, huh?"

"It was pretty obvious," Raven said bluntly.

"Humph! You'd be surprised how many humans I've met that could never figure it out," Sin said, laughing lightly.

He entered the room and walked toward the bed. Starfire floated off the bed and blocked his path. She didn't want him near her Robin, something deep down inside her told her Sin was a dangerous creature. She feared he might do something more harmful to Robin. Sin smirked at Starfire's bravado, even if it was foolish to him, but he knew she was worried for Robin, so he didn't voice his opinion to her.

"You needn't worry, I only wish to see if he is fine," Sin said, uncomfortably gentle.

Starfire glanced at Robin once, she still didn't want him near Robin, but he was the one who saved him. She glanced back at Sin and reluctantly stepped to the side.

"Thank you," Sin said.

He approached the bed and removed the blankets off Robin. He sat on the edge and closed his eyes. He raised his right hand and placed it over Robin and ran it an inch above his body. He moved his hand up and down, and then back to the center of Robin's chest. He checked for any mishaps that might have occurred. Sensing everything was fine, he got off the bed and put the blankets back over Robin.

"Everything has gone just fine, he'll wake up soon. I suggest you two not be here when he does," Sin informed the girls.

"I must be here when Robin awakes! He will wish for me to be the first he sees!" Starfire declared.

Sin turned to face her with a wicked expression. His devilish grin slowly turned into an evil smile. "That may be true, but I don't think you will appreciate him when he rips that delicate looking neck of yours open!" Sin said, chuckling wickedly.

"Why would Robin do that?" Starfire said, putting a hand over her throat.

"He won't know any better. So, unless you want a new breathing hole I suggest we depart now and let him wake up alone," Sin said, sitting up from the bed.

Raven gently grabbed Starfire's left arm and led her out into the hallway. Sin followed behind them and shut the door behind him. Once in the hallway, Raven let go of her friend's arm and turned to Sin, who leaned on the door, grinning at them devilishly again.

"Sin, we have patiently waited for you to return. Please, tell us what has become of Robin!" Starfire pleaded.

Sin stopped grinning and looked at her seriously; it was almost unnatural how quickly he changed his expression. "The Robin you once knew is no longer alive," he said.

Starfire clasped her hands over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Sin. "W-What? B-But I-I—Uh? H-He's in Raven's room, sleeping!" she said starting to panic.

Sin held up a hand for her to be quiet. "Allow me to clarify that statement. The soul of Robin is still in the body, but when he awakes, he will no longer be the same as you once knew him," he said.

"I do not understand?!" Starfire sniffed, beginning to cry again.

"He means Robin is undead, Star," Raven said.

The redhead blinked wet confused eyes at the two. "Un-dead?" she said.

"Sin is not human, Star. At one time he was, but now he is something that walks the night, dead, but not dead, understand?" Raven said.

"Maybe we should be more blunt about this with her, Raven," Sin snickered, laughing darkly.

Starfire was very confused. She didn't understand anything they were talking about. _'How can Robin be dead? I felt his heart beat, even if it was kinda faint,'_ she thought.

"That's because our anatomy is different from that of a humans'," Sin said.

"Huh?" Starfire gasped. _'…How did he know what I was thinking?'_

"Because he can read minds, Star," Raven replied.

"Ah! Please, stop doing that!" Starfire screeched.

"Sorry," Raven apologized.

Sin busted out laughing madly. Starfire was getting mad at him now and everyone knows that isn't a good thing when she gets mad. "Grr! Just tell me what is happening to Robin!" she growled.

"He was turned into a vampire, Star," Raven said.

"A vam-pi-re?" Starfire said.

Sin made a disgruntled noise and pushed off the door. "That is a word humans came up with! We are called Nosferatu, what you call or consider vampires are a weak sub-species to us. Never call me a vampire again!" Sin said coldly.

Both girls backed away from him as he pushed away from the door. He looked very irritated for a moment, but then his expression changed back to his devilish look.

"What is a vam-pi-re or a Nos-fer-atu?" Starfire asked.

"Vamp—Ur, Nosferatu are creatures that walk the night and drink human blood," Raven said.

Sin sighed, rubbing his temple, as if he was getting a headache. Then he started laughing for some unknown reason. "There is more to being a Nosferatu than just drinking blood. That is only what we do to survive. There is far more than you can comprehend what we do!" Sin said, as though talking to five year-olds.

"I am sorry for not understanding all this, but what does this have to do with Robin?" Starfire said.

"I can't drive the nail through the wood with this girl!" Sin said sarcastically, sighing more. "I turned him into a Nosferatu, a Ruler of the Night! He will command the darkness and do anything he sees fit to do. Well, as long as it doesn't affect himself or our kind."

Starfire was overwhelmed with all this information. She couldn't believe her Robin was dead or undead, whatever the case was. "So, Robin is no longer…alive?" Starfire deduced finally.

"Precisely! He is more than he once was; he has crossed over and has become something far greater!" Sin said, smiling evilly.

"…If Robin is not alive, then how can he wake up?" Starfire asked.

"His body is changing. He needs to rest for a period of time to adapt to his new nature. He will awake and live, not like a human, but he will exist," Sin replied.

"Why did you turn Robin into a Nosferatu?" Raven asked.

"Jinx had impaled Robin to one of the support beams. One of the bars punctured an artery to his heart. He would have died entirely before any of you got there to save him. Even if you did get there in time, the damage was too fatal for anyone to heal him. Heh, except for my touch!" Sin said.

"That explains the bars, and the holes in Robin's costume. What I still want to know is why _you_ were there and _saved_ him?" Raven said, eyeing the grinning Nosferatu.

Sin smiled impossibly wider and started laughing like a mad man, scaring the poor redhead. She ran and hid behind Raven, cowering in fear from the laughing Nosferatu.

"I will only answer that question to Robin. I will say this to you though: Robin should have _died_ the moment he was impaled!" Sin said, widening his eyes insanely.

"What are you saying?" Raven said, baffled by his words.

"I'm saying, your friend Robin, kept himself alive by pure force of will!" Sin replied.

Raven pondered on his words thoughtfully. _'Why should that make him change Robin?'_

"Because, my dear little Raven, that is the pure essence of becoming a child of the night!" Sin answered.

Raven's eyes grew huge in disbelief. She has never had her mind read by anyone before. What scared the hell out of her was she didn't even sense Sin do it. She put up all her strongest defenses and glared coldly as Sin.

Sin laughed again, waving an apologetic hand to Raven. "Habit! Sorry, I didn't mean to do it," he snickered.

"…Guys, where are you, and why am I in Raven's room?" they heard Robin's voice come from the room.

"Robin!" Starfire cried out, running to the door. Sin held up a hand in front of her.

"Whoa! Hold on, little missy, until I talk to Robin, no one is to go near him. Raven, I think I can trust you to keep her out here while I talk to Robin," Sin said.

Raven glanced at the glowing eyed Tamaranean. "I'll try," Raven replied nervously.

"Good enough," Sin said.

He turned to face the door and walked through it like it was water. Starfire let out an "Eep!" and Raven stared at her door in bewilderment. In Raven's room, Sin smiled wickedly at Robin.

"Good evening, my dark little Robin!" Sin said, widening his smile again and started chuckling darkly. The fallen hero stared at the crazy grinning man in confusion.

'… _What the hell is this nut?'_ Robin thought.

" _HAHAHAHAH!_! I'm the nut who's going to show you a whole new view in life!

 _AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA_!" Sin crackled wickedly.

"Huh?" Robin said, staring at the laughing vampire.

A/N: What do you guys think? Sorry, if your disgusted with Starfire and Robin being together. Don't worry, that's not going to last for very long! Please review this chapter; it'll keep me writing more!


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, but I do own Sin. You try taking him and you will die very slowly and painfully!

A/N: Hey, thanks for all the reviews, guys! You don't know how much they mean to me. Oh, here's some info for anyone who doesn't know what a Nosferatu is.

Nosferatu: Literal translation is 'Night creature,' any of the creature's children that are unleashed or 'reborn' are empowered by the night. Nosferatu is a modern word derived from Old Slavonic word, Nesufur-utu, borrowed from the Greek Nosophoros; a 'plague carrier.' Though it has been in use in Romania for several centuries it is not found in Romanian dictionaries. It was originally a technical term in the Old Slavonic that filtered into common speech. It has erroneously been reported to mean "Undead." A concept by Bram Stoker for Dracula and elsewhere as a reference to the devil.

 **Dark Awakening**

Robin lied very still in Raven's bed. To anyone looking him right now they would suspect he was really dead. His chest never moved to show his was breathing. His body hadn't moved an inch since Sin changed him, but his mind was another matter. His mind was in complete turmoil, because he dreamt about blood and darkness. Robin was running in an endless stream of blood, it splashed all around him, soaking into his clothes. All around him he saw moving shadows chasing after him. He ran around everywhere, trying to find his friends, his Starfire. He kept on running until his blood soaked clothes began to weigh him down. He finally began to get tried He wanted to go on but his body felt like lead. The heaviness dragging him down forced him to stop running entirely and fall to his hands and knees.

"…Where is everybody? Starfire, where are you!?" Robin yelled in frustration.

"I'm right here, darling," he heard a familiar feminine voice say.

Robin looked up and saw Starfire floating in front of him. "Starfire, it's really you!" Robin cried joyfully.

He reached out a blood-soaked hand to her. Starfire reached out her hand to him, but just before their fingers touched, a look of horror fell over Starfire's face.

"Y-You're not Robin!" she shrieked, backing away from him.

"Starfire? Wait, hold on, Star! Don't you recognize me? It's me Robin," Robin uttered to her.

"N-No, you're not! You're a monster!" Starfire screamed.

Robin got up to his feet and grabbed her by the arms. "A monster? No, you got it wrong, Star, it's me, Robin! Can't you see that?" he cried out desperately.

Starfire screamed and burst into green flames. The force of the explosion sent Robin flying back, sliding on the blood as he hit the bloody ground behind him. He rolled to his side and moaned, then slowly got on his knees.

"Starfire? Starfire, where did you go?!" Robin shouted, looking for any traces of her…but there was none.

Agonizing sadness swept Robin into despair. He didn't understand why she looked so scared of him. Everything around him wasn't making any sense! He started beating the ground with both his fist, crying for Starfire. He sent splashes of blood everywhere, covering the rest of his body in a crimson sheet. He didn't care; he was trying to figure out why Starfire didn't recognize him, why she was so afraid of him and called him a monster. He stopped hitting the ground out of exhausting himself; again, he just rested on his knees, weeping. He used his hands to wipe away his tears. When he stopped wiping, he looked at his hands, half expecting them to be semi-clean from his tears. Instead, there was more blood on his hands. Robin stared, horrified, at his hands, he glanced down at the blood covered ground. In the blood, he saw his reflection, but he didn't see himself. His mask was gone and it showed a terrifying surprise. His eyes were blood red; the reflection looked back at him with an evil smile, showing off a pair of fangs.

"T-That's not me? It can't be me?! It just can't be me!" Robin said in disbelief.

His reflection started laughing darkly and spoke in an evil voice. _"Oh, it's you alright! Ha, ha, ha, ha! You're a monster, a freak! No one is ever going to be near a killer like you! HAHAHAHA!"_ The reflection began laughing manically.

"No! No! I'm not a killer!" Robin yelled at his reflection, hitting it over and over in rage.

A new voice spoke up, a deep evil voice, filled with darkness. _**"Yesss! You are Robinnnn! You have made the choiccce. You have accepted the night into your soul! Now, be transformed and awaken! Oh, child of darknessssss!"**_ it hissed.

The blood on the ground began to swirl around Robin; it rose up in waves over him, blocking any escape route. It encircled him and shot out tentacles made of blood. The tentacles wrapped around him, covering most of his body in a hellish cocoon. He screamed in fear and tried to break free, but the blood only wrapped tighter around him like a python squeezing the breath out of its victim when it tries to breathe. Shadows descended on Robin, slipping into his eyes and mouth. They merged themselves with is mind and soul. Robin screamed on endlessly as pain shot through every particle of his being. The pain in his body was unbearable. His soul itself felt like it was on fire. Every cell and nerve in his body throbbed with white hot pain. Soon, the blood slowly uncoiled itself from Robin, and he fell back to onto the ground. The shadows retreated back to the darkness from which they came, leaving Robin to curl into a tight ball. He couldn't stand it anymore, all he wanted to do was die right then and there…all his will was robbed from him from the piercing darkness.

"W-Where is everybody?" Why aren't they here?!" he cried pitifully.

"…Robin!" a voice echoed out.

"Huh?" Robin said weakly.

The voice echoed his name again, this time it sounded familiar to him. "R-Raven?" Robin said hopefully.

"Robin, you have to get up!" Raven's voice said.

Robin slowly crawled onto his knees. He looked up to see Raven reaching out a hand to him.

"…Raven?" Robin said worriedly. He feared she would disappear on him like Starfire did if he tried reaching out to her. He couldn't bear seeing someone start screaming and calling him a monster, not again. It would shatter him entirely to have another close friend shriek away from him.

"Don't worry, Robin, I'm not afraid of you. Come on and get up, you need to get up, now!" Raven said.

Robin reached out to her, but his arms felt like lead. He struggled to move toward Raven's hand, he slowly inched his hand to hers. As he neared Raven, a blue light started glowing behind her.

"Hurry up, Robin; you can do this, come on!" Raven encouraged him on.

Robin roared in frustration and lunged with all the strength he had left for her hand. His blood soaked fingers intertwined with hers. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand reassuringly, the feel of Raven's hand made Robin feel save and renewed.

"You're safe now," Raven said.

Robin felt himself be pulled toward the blue light behind her. "Raven, where are we going?" he asked.

She didn't answer him; her body disappeared into the blue light.

"Raven!" Robin yelled.

The blue light soon consumed Robin, too, turning into a dark purple when his hand came into contact with it as it drew all of him into it. Then the light suddenly sent Robin forward at incredible speed. He flew down a tunnel of purple light with no sense of time. There was no way for Robin to know how long he traveled down this strange tunnel, all he could hope for was he'd get to wherever he was being taken to soon. After what seemed like forever to Robin, the light began to fade and at the end of the tunnel stood Raven with a patient look on her face. He tried going faster to get to her by moving his arms and legs like he was swimming, but it didn't help him move any faster to her as he wanted to.

But just as he was about to reach her, she smiled warmly, and said, "Soon, Robin, you'll know what your heart wants."

"Huh?" Robin said, and then he woke up!

He sat straight up in bed with both arms stretched out in front of him. Confused of what just happened, he placed a hand on his aching head. _'I-It was a dream…No, more like a nightmare, but it felt so real! What happened to me? Last thing I remember was fighting Jinx and being impa-!'_ A flashback of the bars impaling Robin jumped into his mind along with the pain from it. _'Arh! I hurt all over! I feel like Cinderblock used me as a punching bag. Where is everyone? Where the hell am I?'_ Robin thought. He scanned his surroundings, the room was dark, but he could see everything as clear as day. He saw the wall with the built in bookshelf. He saw the theater mask statue by it and a few other weird items, but when Robin saw the strange looking mirror on a dresser, his brain finally clicked. _'I'm in Raven's room!'_

All of a sudden he heard a dark chuckling voice. "Habit! Sorry, I didn't to do it!"

"…Guys, where are you, and why am I in Raven's room?" Robin said weakly.

He wanted to say something more intelligent, but his head hurt too much to think straight. He heard Starfire yell his name, and then a devilish voice say, "Whoa! Hold on, little messy, until I talk to Robin, no one is going near him. Raven, I think I can trust you to keep her out here while I talk to Robin."

"I'll try," he heard Raven say.

"Good enough." The next thing Robin knew was seeing Sin walked out of the closed door like it wasn't there. Sin stood inside the room, smiling at him. "Good evening, my dark little Robin!" he said, laughing darkly.

The fallen hero stared at the crazy grinning man in confusion. _'…What the hell is this nut?'_ he thought.

" _HAHAHAHAHA!_ I'm the nut who's going to show you a whole new view in life! _AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled wickedly.

"Huh?" Robin said, staring at the laughing vampire. "Who are you?"

Sin stopped laughing and settled with that devilish grin on his face. "My name is Sin," he said amusedly.

' _Sin, what kind of name is that? I need to see my friends. They're all probably worried sick about me, especially Starfire!'_ Robin thought. He tried to throw his legs over to the side of the bed, but he only succeeded in moving them half way.

"You're weak, you need to feed to regain your strength," Sin said.

As he said those word feed, Robin felt his stomach start twisting violently on itself. Robin wrapped his arms around himself, moaning in agony. _'God, I'm hungry!'_ Robin thought. He managed to say to Sin. "How long have I been out?" Before his stomach twisted violently on him again, causing him to keel over in excruciating agony.

"Only a day," Sin said.

"A-A day! It feels more like a week!" Robin moaned.

Sin crackled insanely and walked over to the bed. "Your body was heavily damaged, it's surprising you woke up on your first night," Sin said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"My what?" Robin said confused.

Sin widened his grin and sat next to Robin. "I better explain what I did to you before I answer that one," Sin said.

Robin's stomach stabbed at him again. "Arh! W-What's going on with me?" Robin grunted. He started grinding his teeth together; the pain in his stomach was getting worse.

"You died," Sin said simply.

"I what?!" Robin shouted.

"Undead to be more precise," Sin stated.

A panicked looked spread across Robin's face. He stared at Sin oddly and started to slowly back away from him. "Just what the hell are you?" he said.

"I am Nosferatu, you do know what that is, right?" Sin said, looking at Robin eagerly.

Robin racked his brain for a minute, trying to remember where he heard that word before. Then he remembered that weird lesson Batman taught him about mythical creatures, mainly nocturnal ones.

"Yeah, I do know what that is, it's Old Slavonic for-for vampire…" Robin said.

Sin smiled widely, showing off is fangs to Robin. "You were on the brink of death, Robin. No one could have saved you, not even with this so-called modern worlds' technology. The only way to save you was to turn you into a Nosferatu." Sin rolled his eyes before continuing. "A vampire if that makes it easier for you to understand. That is why your hunger is gnawing at your stomach! You need to feed soon before it gets out of hand," Sin said, rolling up his left sleeve.

"What are you doing?" Robin said, eyeing Sin's pale wrist.

"I just said you needed to feed," Sin said, irritated by having to repeat himself.

"No!" Robin shouted, backing away from Sin.

Sin moved lightning fast. He grabbed Robin's shoulder with his right hand. He held Robin tightly to keep him where he was. "Look, I'm only going to say this once, so listen well!" Sin growled. "You have to feed, now! The pain you are experiencing will only get worse and you will grow weak."

"No, I won't drink blood! I'd rather starve to death then drink blood!" Robin said determinedly.

Sin dropped his grin and glared at Robin seriously. "You're already dead, Robin! We can't starve to death, only grow weak, which is a very dangerous thing for us, especially for you! When we grow weak, our instincts override our better judgment and make us kill unintentionally." Sin pulled Robin close to his face and stared into his eyes. Robin could feel the force of that stare; it made him feel very uneasy. "Do you want to that, Robin, huh? Do you want to black out and wake up to find all your friends, your Starfire, dead around you with their blood dripping down your mouth!?"

Images of the Titans lying dead at his feet filled Robin's mind. He saw an image of Starfire lying dead in his arms, with a blank look, and a ripped out throat. The intensity of that image shook Robin to his core. It filled him with a horror, unlike any he's ever experienced.

"W-Will that happen?" Robin quivered.

"Yes, now stop your whining! It's not like I'm forcing you kill anyone. You will feed on me, until you get used to drinking blood, that is," Sin said.

Sin moved his face away from his with his grin back on his face. Robin sighed deeply and dropped his head in frustration. Sin placed his exposed wrist in front of Robin's face.

"Drink!" Sin commanded.

Robin stared at the wrist with a new unnatural fascination; the skin looked so white and appealing to him, it drew his eyes to lock on it with awe and a growing urge of interest. He could see the veins under the creamy white skin. Almost see the blood moving ever so slightly in the Nosferatu's wrist. His lips could feel the pulsing warmth of the blood.

Robin felt an itching feeling in his gums at that moment. He used his tongue to feel around and found a set of fangs growing. His hunger began to grow more, and he tried fighting it. He tried telling himself he wouldn't drink blood, but something inside him told him differently. It told him to bite the wrist; it wanted the blood circulating in it. It made Robin slowly inched his mouth to Sin's wrist, open his mouth to get ready to bite it and find the warm substance inside it. Before Robin's teeth touched the skin, though, he realized what he was doing and backed off. The moment he resisted, he felt something inside him lash out, trying to make him bite Sin's wrist. Robin used all the will he could muster to push whatever it was back.

' _No, I won't let this thing to control me!'_ Robin thought determinedly.

Sin grinned viciously. "Good! Very good, indeed! You're not giving into your Beast," he said approvingly.

"My Beast?" Robin said.

"Yesss!" Sin hissed. "The Beast is what we call the dark instinct that takes control of us if we do not feed or in danger. It's like an alter ego that takes place from your own when you're weak, a surviving instinct if you will. I'm very pleased you have a strong enough will to keep it suppressed. Some Nosferatu give in on the first time it tries to take control. That will help you in the long run, but you do need to feed right now!"

In one swift motion, Sin grabbed the back of Robin's head and pulled his mouth to his wrist. His mouth clamped down hard on Sin's wrist, and his new fangs broke the skin easily. Blood suddenly gushed into his mouth and total bliss swept over him. Robin rolled his eyes up in luxury, completely intoxicated with the taste of the blood pouring into his mouth. All of his doubts and fears washed away as the blood poured down and satisfied his dry throat. The blood sent a warming sensation throughout his body, heating his chilled body. It was in that moment that he realized how cold he really was until the blood warmed his body. The blood not heated his body but radiated an unimaginable pleasure inside him.

Sin chuckled wickedly and started rubbing Robin's head like he would an obedient child. "Good. That's the way, my little Robin," Sin whispered.

Robin bit down harder on Sin's wrist; he couldn't get enough of the exquisite elixir! It was like nothing he has ever felt before.

"Okay, that's enough for tonight; we don't want to get greedy now, do we?" Sin snickered, with a flick of his wrist he yanked it out of his mouth.

Robin growled like an animal and tried to go after the wrist, but Sin grabbed Robin by the top of his head with the hand he had used to rub his head. He held Robin like that for a couple of minutes. Robin thrashed like a wild beast, trying to break free from Sin's hand. He grabbed at Sin's arm and tried to move it, but Sin's arm felt like trying to move a steel beam. He couldn't bend or pry the hand from his head.

Sin laughed hysterically while he watched Robin struggled. "Calm down, Robin! I know what a rush it is, but you can't let this control you. It's just another way for the Beast inside you to take control."

Robin slowly stopped thrashing and tried to get a hold of himself. Sin still kept a good hold on his head just in case he started losing it again.

"I-I never felt anything like that before in my life!" Robin quivered, still feeling the afterglow.

"Tripping, isn't it? Hah! The first time is always overwhelming. That is why you're going to feed on me, that is, until your self-control builds up. If you fed on someone else who couldn't defend themselves, you wouldn't have stopped until you drained them dry!" Sin said.

Robin's skin flushed pink, almost rosy cheeked. The blood had made Robin look more alive now. The whole experience still excited him. "That was so—so amazing! I didn't want to stop. I wanted to keep on drinking!" Robin said in astonishment.

"You would have, if I hadn't stopped you. I must say drinking blood is always exciting…But tell me, Robin, would it still be thrilling if you were sucking the life out of one of your teammates?" Sin asked in a serious tone.

"What? I would never hurt my friends!" Robin shouted.

"Maybe not intentionally, but your Beast wouldn't give a damn! To it, your friends are nothing more than the next meal! I want you to keep this in mind before you ever indulge in blood, always! You can never allow your Beast to take control, never!" Sin said.

"I'll never hurt my friends. I'll kill myself before I ever do that!" Robin said heatedly.

"Careful what you say, kid! You're in a whole new world and you have a dark nature now. You may think it will be easy not to, but take my word for it; when you least expect it, your Beast will leash out and harm those you never wish to," Sin said.

For a split second, Robin thought he saw sadness in Sin's mocking eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came, replaced with amusement.

"Come on, now! Your friend Raven and your _beloved_ are waiting for you outside. I warn you now, Robin, keep yourself in control when you see them. You may have fed now, but seeing a _living_ source of blood will make you want more," Sin warned.

He let go of Robin and sat up, rolling his sleeve back down over his now healed wrist, all in one fluid motion. Robin got out of the bed and walked, unsteadily at first, to the door. He quickly noticed his body felt very different. His body now felt lighter, but in a way he knew it was stronger than before, like how a lazy tiger make look until it decided to coil its muscles and pounced for its attack. He started to walk normally again once he neared the door. Sin followed close behind him as a precaution, he wanted to make sure he stopped Robin if he lost control. As they neared the door, Sin began chuckling strangely; he smirked as Robin opened it and found Raven and Starfire falling into the room.

They were trying to listen to Sin and Robin's conversation by leaning there ears against the door. Starfire had falling on top of Raven, pinning her to the floor. Raven looked over her shoulder and glared at her ditzy friend, drumming her fingers in irritation. Starfire all the while stared up sheepish-like at Robin and Sin for being caught.

Sin laughed and Robin stared at the girls with confusion written all over his face. Starfire, though, quickly got up and hugged Robin joyfully. On contact, his new senses overloaded with her so close to him suddenly. He could see her blood pumping through her veins. He could smell her sweet perfume, and the dried blood she was still covered in. The feel of her skin burned his own, and he could feel his hunger rising again. Without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to his body. He positioned his face near her neck with one thought running through his mind as he breathed in her scent, how to get to the blood under her orange skin. He was about to open his mouth before he felt something grab his right shoulder tightly. Robin looked at his shoulder to find Sin's hand there. He looked up at Sin and saw the stern expression on his face. It made Robin think about what he was doing, and he pushed himself away from Starfire roughly.

Confused by his action, she said, "Robin, what is the matter? Is something wrong?"

Robin covered with face with one hand and looked away from her. He couldn't believe he almost bit Starfire! What scared him more was that he didn't feel the Beast force him to do it. "I-It's n-not you, Star! I-I-It's-," Robin tried answering, but he couldn't bring himself to tell her what he tried to do.

Sin gently pulled Robin away from Starfire, he stepped between them, so his body blocked her sight of Robin. He didn't struggle as Sin pulled him away from Starfire; he covered his face in shame and started shaking slightly. "I think what Robin is trying to say is he isn't used to his new senses. It would be wise if you go and clean that blood off you, it isn't a healthy thing to be covered in around a newborn Nosferatu" Sin said, smiling wickedly at her.

"A-Alright, I'll be quick in cleaning myself, Robin! I will come back in a few minutes," Starfire said. She quickly flew to her room, and then she zoomed out with clean clothes to the bathroom down the hall.

Raven looked at Robin, who was beginning to shake more behind Sin; he was still covering his face. "Are you alright, Robin?" she asked concern fully.

Robin got his body to stop shaking, and he removed his hands and sighed deeply. "Y-Yeah, Raven, it's just I feel so…strange," he said with a shaky voice.

"You will get used to it! Come along now, Robin, I have a present for you, it is in your room," Sin said, smiling mischievously.

"A present?" Robin and Raven said.

"Yup!" Sin replied with a soft chuckle.

They walked down to his room. On the way, Raven walked behind Robin while Sin walked slightly in between them. She watched Robin all the time as they walked down the hall; she noticed Robin now had a sense of grace when he moved, he walked with a grace most acrobats or dancers trained all their lives for. He glided down the hall with such unnatural ease. She glanced at Sin and noticed the same from his movements, only he moved more gracefully than Robin, if such a thing was possible. It would have unnerved most people, seeing the two walking alongside her with such disturbing grace, but then again, Raven wasn't like most people. She didn't let it bother her, but she couldn't take her eyes off Robin. His exposed back muscles attracted her eyes. They looked so smooth and sexy.

' _Sexy? Did I just think that about Robin! Something is definitely wrong with me…but he has become more muscular! Wow, they look so smooth and—whoa! I can't believe I'm checking out Robin! Stop looking at his back, Raven, just look down! Uh, ur, I think that was bad idea!'_ Raven thought. Now she was staring at his butt, and her emotions flared up. The sound of breaking glass was heard somewhere in the Tower.

Robin looked back to her, and asked, "Is something wrong, Raven?"

Hers cheeks were bright red, but he couldn't see them, because her hood hid her face. She stared at the carpet in embarrassment. "I-It's nothing!" Raven said quickly.

"Okay…" Robin murmured. _'Wonder what that was about?'_

He glanced at Sin and saw he was looking at Raven amusedly. Robin didn't want to guess what the crazy-looking vampire found so amusing about Raven. He shrugged it off and continued to his room. They arrived to Robin's room, as they walked in, Raven looked about the room. This was the first time she had ever been in his room. She came to see all the newspaper ads and pictures of criminals, mainly about Slade, on the walls.

' _He's still obsessed with taking down Slade…'_ Raven thought worriedly.

Besides the newspaper ads and the pictures, the room looked pretty normal. There was a full-sized bed with red sheets and white pillows. She saw only one bookshelf next to the bed, and a table in the center of the room, with files about who knows what on it.

"So, where is this present?" Robin asked questionably.

"On the bed," Sin said simply.

Robin looked at his bed. There on the red sheets, lied a black suitcase. He walked over the bed and picked the suitcase up. "What's in it?" Robin asked.

"Open it and find out," Sin replied.

Robin put the suitcase down and unlatched the locks, and then he opened it up. Inside the suitcase was an outfit. He pulled out a long black trench coat with no sleeves. Under the jacket, laid a long sleeved black spandex shirt and black spandex pants. He found a silver chest plate and armguards, a pair of black gloves and steel-toed boots, much like his old pair, only theses had kneepieces that went over the shin. Eight black and silver buckled belts and black tinted sunglasses.

"What is all of this for?" Robin asked.

"It's your new costume! I don't think your old one would be appropriate for you now," Sin said.

"Try it on, Robin, it can't hurt to see how it looks on you," Raven said, blushing slightly.

"Okay," Robin agreed reluctantly.

He started taking off the rest of his old costume, and a scarlet-faced Raven swiftly turned her back to him, a wicked laughter broke out from Sin. He watched Robin as he put on the new clothes, then the metal gear, but he didn't know what to do with the belts. Sin walked over and helped him out with them. He put six small belts on Robin's upper arms; three on each arm, he then put the last two around his hips, both connecting at the buckle and hung on his hips in an X pattern, diagonally.

"You can look now, Raven!" Sin said playfully.

Raven turned around, and she almost gasped when she saw Robin. He now looked so different from his old self, the clothes made him so dark and wild. He didn't take off his mask though, and that was the only thing that resembled the old Robin. He checked himself in the mirror by his dresser and whistled in amazement. For a second, he didn't think he'd see his reflection in the mirror. Sin began laughing harder than before.

"Don't believe all those myths you've seen in the movies, not all of them are true!" Sin mused.

Robin grumbled at him and examined his new appearance. "These clothes are cool, but why did you get them for me?" Robin asked, looking at the grinning vampire.

"New look for a new you," Sin said simply, brushing his bangs back with one hand. He looked at Robin, liking how the clothes he picked out for him, but when he looked up at Robin's mask, he frowned slightly at the corners of his mouth. "You know, that mask doesn't suit you anymore, you no longer have anything to hide from anyone."

Robin looked back to Sin, then back to his reflection. With great reluctance, he removed his mask and what he saw under the mask made him stiffen. His eyes were no longer their normal color. They were now crimson red, his pupils remained normal, they weren't like Sin's, but Robin figured they will one day, the thought made him depressed. He looked away from the mirror and found Raven was right next to him now. She stood there, looking wide-eyed at him; her face was beet red under her hood, she was marveled by his dark and wild look, it suit him so well.

' _H-He's more handsome than before, he looks so good in black!'_ Raven thought approvingly.

She must have been staring at him for too long, because Robin turned his face away in shame. "Am I terrifying to you, Raven?" he said depressively.

Raven snapped out of her daydreaming, and said, "N-No, Robin! I was just ad-."

"ROBIN!" yelled Starfire from the hallway.

Raven bit her lip and lowered her head, hiding her face from everyone. Sin raised an eyebrow and gazed at Raven curiously as she looked to be making herself as unnoticeable as possible. Starfire came flying into Robin's room, wearing a clean outfit and dripping wet. She cleaned up so fast she forgot to dry herself off. Starfire floated into the room and saw Robin, she rushed over to him, but when she saw his eyes, and his new clothes, she halted in mid air.

"Uh? I-Is that you, Robin?" Starfire asked, sounding as unsure as she looked.

Robin closed his eyes and tightened both hands. Starfire instantly knew she said the wrong thing. "R-Robin, I do not mean any offense, it's, uh, umm, you look so different!" She said, which made Robin grow more depressed by the second.

"Hey, Princess, stop trying to help Robin's mood!" Sin growled.

Starfire rubbed the back of her head and smile sheepishly. "Sorry! Umm, I know! We shall celebrate Robin's fast recovery!" Starfire cheered.

"I agree! The birth of a new Nosferatu is definitely a call for celebration!" Sin said, grinning devilishly.

"U-Uh? Y-Yes, l-let's be on our way then!" Starfire said hastily, wrapping an arm around Robin's and pulling him out of the room, fast!

Raven sighed deeply and followed the two slowly out of the room. Sin waited till Raven left room, and then he smirked psychotically. _'Hmm, So, Robin has a secret admirer, and he doesn't realize it! AHAHAHA! This is going to be so much fun!'_ Sin thought, crackling quietly as he strolled out of the room.

In a secret hideout, Slade was slamming the controls on his video control system. He was watching the Titans fight the H.I.V.E. members, and his drones. It was supposed to be a simple job for them. They were to get the plans and get out _before_ the Titan had arrived. Those bumbling fools couldn't even do the most simplest of jobs he appointed to them done right. It was a waste of his time to break those buffoons out of prison. He'll deal with them later when he got to them, but right now he had more urgent matters. He saw Robin go after Jinx into the warehouse, he sent one of his drones to follow them and send him feedback of Robin's progress. Slade saw Robin enter the warehouse before an inky blackness covered the drone's eyes, and then its signal cut off. Slade tried hacking into the warehouse's security cameras, but they showed only static. He quickly switched to another one of his drones, positioned near the warehouse.

The robot swiftly arrived to the warehouse just in time to see Cyborg and Beast Boy carry Jinx out, and a crying Starfire, covered in blood, leave the warehouse. After they left, he sent the drone to investigate what happened in there. He saw the blood covering the floor, the bars and the five holed support beam. It didn't take long for him to put the pieces together. Slade panicked for the first time in a long time. He couldn't afford to lose his apprentice, not now, not when he had the perfect plan to get him back! Slade tried desperately to find Robin, but he wasn't anywhere to be found. It was like he just disappeared into thin air.

' _Wait! Raven wasn't with the others when they left. She must have taken him to a hospital or back to their tower to heal him. So, Robin may still be all right…but if he isn't! I swear that little_ _psychotic bitch and everyone will pay dearly!'_ Slade thought menacingly.

He calmed himself down and returned to his chair by the controls and switched the monitors to the Titans security system.

A/N: Sorry! Sorry! I'd gotten writer's block. That is such a pain in the ass! I hope all of you liked this chapter! I am also sorry if Robin isn't aware of Raven's crush in him. Don't worry; with a little help from my Angel of the Night, he will soon realize it! Please send more reviews PLEASE!


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, but Sin and this story are my property!

A/N: I'm really sorry I've taken so long to update.

 **Crimson Desires**

Starfire led Robin to the common room, not saying a word to him the whole time they walked together. Robin could tell she was nervous with being near him, he didn't know how, he just could. A few times, Starfire looked at him out of the corner of her eye, but then, she'd quickly look away when she saw his eyes.

' _There is nothing to be frightened about, Star! Robin is still Robin!'_ he heard her say.

"Of course I'm still me, Star," Robin said.

Starfire let go of Robin's arm and backed away from him, she backed so far she hit the wall a little too hard, knocking some of her breath out of her. She was dazed for a second, but she quickly caught herself and looked at Robin just like how she looked in his dream.

"W-What?" Starfire asked frightfully.

"You just said there was nothing to be frightened about. I'm still who I was, didn't you?" Robin pondered,

"I-I didn't sat those words, Robin!" Starfire said.

"No, but you were thinking them," Sin interjected, strolling up with Raven.

"Huh?" they both said.

"Robin, you're a Nosferatu now! Being such, you now have abilities you've never dreamt of having. One of our gifts is the ability to read minds," Sin explained.

"If that's true, then why don't I hear Raven's mind?" Robin said skeptically.

"Because I know how to block my thoughts from others," Raven said.

"Maybe!" Sin snickered, grinning mockingly at the empath.

Raven glared at him and put up more defenses in her mind. Robin looked at both of them, not sure of what was going on between them. He glanced back at Starfire, who was still up against the wall.

' _She looks so scared! Is it Sin…or is it_ me _?'_ Robin thought.

"We are wasting the night! We need to celebrate while the night is still young! _AHAHAHAHA_!" Sin crackled, scaring Starfire and jolting Robin out if his thoughts.

"Stop doing that! You're scaring Starfire!" Robin shouted angrily.

Sin just laughed harder and walked by him to the living room. He turned his head to the side and smirked at him. "Are you sure I'm the one she is afraid of?"

Starfire cautiously pushed away from the wall, she walked up to Robin and touched his arm. He swiftly turned his head to her, a little too quickly it seemed, because he scared her when he did. She screamed a little and backed away from him again.

"Star, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" Robin apologized quickly.

"I-I know you don't mean to, Robin. I-It is just that I cannot get over how much you have changed over one night," Starfire said, looking away from him.

Robin gently cupped her face in his hands. He kissed her softly on her quivering cheek. "No matter how much I change, Star, I will still be the Robin you know inside," he whispered softly.

Starfire embraced him in a loving hug. _'…I hope,'_ she thought.

Robin heard her think that, it held so many emotions; he couldn't decipher any of them. He hugged her tighter and felt her shaking in his arms. They let go of each other, and Starfire floated off to the living room. Robin watched her go. He waited until she was out of sight before he punched his fist into a wall. His fist went straight through the wall with no problem, and he quickly pulled it out. He stared at the hole he just made in astonishment. Robin knew he shouldn't have been able to do that, but it felt like he barely used any of his strength. Just another sign how much he has changed. His expression turned blank, and he continued to stare at the hole. He forgot Raven was still next to him, who was standing there quietly, watching his actions.

"Robin…what's wrong?" she asked, breaking the silence that befell him. She already knew what was wrong, but she also knew it sometimes helped if someone says it out loud.

"She's scared of me, Raven! Even when we held each other, I could tell-no-feel her trembling from my touch! If things keep up like this, I-I think she will run away from me, forever!" Robin said sadly.

His voice was filled with such bitter sorrow; it made even, the emotionless ice queen, feel sorry for him. She walked up to him and placed a comforting hand on his arm. Robin looked at her, surprised by what she was doing. Never has Raven ever shown any sign of concern for anyone, at least, not when they were looking anyway. He thought if Raven felt the need to try and comfort him, then things must be really bad.

"Robin, don't get so worked up about it. Starfire just needs time to get used to all this. Just like you have to, too" Raven said.

Robin pondered her words. He could always trust Raven to say the right thing at the right moment. She knew just how to calm everyone, even if she acted like the uncaring one.

"You're right. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions too quickly? I just feel so different, Raven!" Robin said, holding his face in his hands.

Raven took his hands and moved them away from his face. She looked at him with barely an inch of a smile. "It'll be fine," she said. She let go of his hands and moved away from him before he could see her blushing face.

"Thank you, Raven," Robin said, smiling pleasantly for once since his transformation. The smile made Raven feel happy, she was glad she was able to make him feel better, but she would never admit it to him.

Robin turned his head to down towards the hallway. "We better hurry. I think Sin is getting impatient."

"What makes you say that?" Raven asked.

Robin looked confused for a moment, and then said, "Uh? I don't know. I just do, like a gut feeling."

Robin was right. As he and Raven entered the common room, they found Sin standing by the entrance, crossed armed, and tapping one finger with a look of irritation on his face. Starfire was on the opposite side of the room, keeping her eyes on Sin like a mouse watching a snake.

"What's wrong with Starfire?" Robin asked Sin, worried he did something to her.

Sin shrugged his shoulders. "Beat's me. When she saw me here, she ran over there," he replied dryly.

Robin walked over to her and touched her shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.

Starfire looked at Robin, then back at Sin. "H-He frightens me!"

"I frighten everyone! You needn't worry, Princess, I won't harm you in any way. After all, you are Robin's _beloved_!" Sin's voice sounded very sarcastic when he said _beloved_ , like it was a joke to him. "Raven, why don't you call your friends and tell them Robin is awake. If we're going to celebrate, more people are needed for a party!" Sin said, unfolding his arms and resting his hands on his hips.

Raven looked at Robin for approval, he nodded his head, and she pulled out her T-Com. She radioed Cyborg and told him Robin was awake.

"Yo, Raven, is that freak there yet?" Cyborg asked over the communicator.

"Yes, Cy, in fact, he's standing next to me right now," Raven said.

"Oh…uh?" Cyborg gawked.

Sin started laughing wickedly.

"Grr! Tell that laughing hyena to shut up!" Cyborg growled.

"Why not you, metal man, or are you too frightened to say it to my face?" Sin snickered mockingly.

"Man! When I get there, I'm going to mess you up so bad; you'll never be able to smile again!" Cyborg yelled angrily.

"If you can, that is!" Sin replied.

"Why you-," Raven turned off her T-com and sighed deeply.

Sin began laughing again. "I think that will bring your friends here quicker! _AHAHAHAHA_!" he crackled.

"W-While we await the arrival of our friends. Why don't we decide on how to celebrate Robin's fast recovery," Starfire said nervously.

"I'm afraid to ask, but how do you usually _celebrate_ for a new Nosferatu, Sin?" Raven asked.

"Hmm, we go out and paint the town red with blood!" Sin said, grinning devilishly.

"That's not a very funny joke, Sin," Robin said.

Sin looked at Robin wickedly. "Who said I was joking?"

Robin, Starfire, and even Raven gulped and sweat dropped. Sin crackled evilly, seeing their horrified expression. "My, you bunch are fun to play with! _HAHAHAHAHA_! I know you don't approve don't approve of bloodshed, at least, not you yet, Robin! Heh, heh, heh!" Sin laughed.

"Don't you dare make assumptions about me! I won't let this Beast make me kill!" Robin shouted heatedly.

Sin walked over to Robin, smirking mockingly. "We'll see. I am eager to see just how long you can control it before it gets the better of you, but I believe you're overconfident!"

Robin growled at him, and he sounded like a wolf when he did!

"Eep!" Starfire squeaked and ran to hide behind Raven.

Sin just widened his smirked and chuckled.

"Can we be serious about this? Why don't we go out to a club, or something?" Raven suggested.

A glint shone in Sin's eyes. "An excellent suggestion! I know the perfect place to go!"

Just as he said that, Cyborg stormed into the living room, pointing his Sonic Cannon at him.

"Alright you! I'm going to so mess you up!" Cyborg said.

"Cyborg, calm down!" Robin said.

Cyborg blinked for a second when he looked a Robin. "Whoa! Robin, is that you? What happened to your eyes, and why are you wearing that weird getup?" Cyborg said, dumbfounded.

Beast Boy, Speedy, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest walked into the common room.

Beast Boy's mouth dropped opened when he saw Robin. "Dude! Is that Robin?" he said.

The others stared at Robin completely shocked. Robin grumbled at them all and looked out the window.

"R-Robin has gone through a small change," Starfire said.

"Small!?" Sin growled.

"Uh? I-I mean, Ur, Umm…" Starfire stuttered.

"Don't hurt yourself, Princess!" Sin snickered.

"Robin has been transformed into a Nosferatu," Raven said emotionlessly.

"A what?" Cyborg and Beast boy said.

"A vampire," Robin said quietly.

"A VAMPIRE!" all of them yelled, except for Wildebeest, he yelled out more like a bull than actual words.

"B-But how!?" Cyborg yelled.

"Guess!" Sin said, grinning devilishly.

Cyborg slowly turned his head to glare at the grinning vampire. "You! You did this to Robin, didn't you? This is what you call saving him?!" Cyborg said angrily.

Sin tapped his left index finger on is chin, looking up at the ceiling, humming to himself. "Mmm! Let me think for second. Uh? Yes!" Sin said, laughing maniacally after which.

Cyborg roared, enraged by Sin, and charged at him, pulling back his right hand into a fist. Sin just flashed a fanged smile at the oncoming Cyborg, not budge an inch as Cyborg came at him. Cyborg reached him and punched him right in the middle of his face. The force of the blow sent Sin's bangs flying off his face.

"Booya!" Cyborg cheered.

Everyone gasped. They knew Cyborg could break rocks with his fists. To be punched in the face by Cyborg would have cracked their skull wide open. Cyborg pulled his fist back, expecting a bloody face. Instead, he saw Sin still smiling at him as his bangs fell back over his grinning face. His face looked completely normal, well, as normal for him, anyway. He started laughing hysterically as Cyborg backed away from him, scared out of his wits. Sin took one step forward, making Cyborg fumble and fall on his rear end. He looked up at Sin as he leaned down at the waist, so he was eye leveled with Cyborg.

"Heh! Nice punch, it actually made my face tingle a bit!" Sin snickered.

Suddenly, Sin's hand shot up and caught an arrow coming at him. He straightened up and glared menacingly at Speedy. The said archer stared at Sin wide-eyed. He couldn't believe Sin caught one of his arrows and at such a close range! He didn't let that faze him for long; he pulled out another arrow and strung it on his bow, aiming it at the vampire. Sin chuckled wickedly and broke the arrow in his hand.

"You're going to change Robin back, now!" Speedy ordered.

"I cannot," Sin said dryly.

"Maybe if I kill you, Robin will turn back to normal!" Speedy threatened, pulling the string back.

"Even if you did manage to kill me, which you can't! Robin will remain a Nosferatu for all eternity. Once you have been embraced there is no going back," Sin said amusedly.

"Never?" Starfire spoke so softly, the others barely heard her.

Sin rolled his eyes in her direction, widening his smile. "Never!" he confirmed.

Starfire fell to her knees like a rag doll, her eye gazed over as she zoned out. Robin felt the overwhelming sadness wash over her, he picked her up and looked deeply in her eyes.

"Star, I-I may have changed forever, but I'm still the same Robin you love!" Robin said.

Starfire eyes cleared up, and she had a look of doubt on her face, before saying, "Always?"

"Always!" Robin said confidently.

She smiled lovingly to him, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. Raven turned away from the scene and closed her eyes. She couldn't help it, but every time she saw them like this, she'd feel a stab of sorrow in her heart. She was so lonely, and she knew she always would be. She could never have a relationship, because that would mean giving into emotions, even if that meant denying herself…love.

She had to or risk destroying everything around her. Roth taught her that she must always guard her emotions…but why, why was she cursed with this existence. She never asked to have demonic blood in her veins. Was it too much too ask for just to feel happy, to experience joy like everyone around? Apparently, it _was_ too much, all because her father raped her mother and cursed her with the life she lived now. Raven pushed those thoughts out of her head before they caused her emotions to break something. There were enough problems; she didn't need to add hers to it. She opened her eyes when she felt like and glanced at Sin. He was looking at Robin and Starfire oddly. He looked at them with an odd expression, it looked like he was disgusted, but at the same time…sad.

Sin caught her looking at him, and he switched to his grinning face. "Alright everyone! Are we going to celebrate or what?!" Sin said quickly, walking to the exit.

' _What was that about?'_ Raven thought curiously.

"Let's get going, Robin. We've wasted enough time idling around here," Sin said.

"Hey! Wait a minute! What's he talking about, what celebration?" Beast Boy asked.

Sin rolled his eyes. "Raven, you can explain it to them. I'm tired of having to," he said with irritation in his voice.

Robin and Starfire walked to the exit next to Sin. Starfire kept her eyes on Sin the whole time. He flashed a fanged smile at her, making her flinch and grab Robin's arm tightly.

Sin chuckled and looked at everyone. "Well, are you all coming or not?" Then he walked out of the living room.

Raven walked up to Cyborg and helped him stand.

"What's going on, Raven?" Cyborg asked.

Raven patted his arm, and said, "I'll explain everything on the way, let's hurry!"

All of them walked out of the common room and followed Sin out of the Tower. Once outside, Sin took a deep breath of the night air. "Ah! The night smells so sweet! This will be an interesting evening!"

"Ok, bloodsucker, where are we going anyway?" Cyborg grunted.

Sin looked at Cyborg like he was hurt. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say! I mean, after all, Robin is your best friend, isn't he?" Sin snickered.

Cyborg growled at him, "I meant you, you-you!"

"What's the matter, Tinny? Your bolts too tight for you to think of anything else? _AHAHAHAHA_!" Sin crackled evilly.

"Stop it both of you! Robin said.

Sin pretended to pout. "Aww! You're no fun! Fine, fine, we should be going."

"Where are we going by the way?" Robin asked.

"To a nightclub, it is the perfect place to party and no one will ask questions about weirdly dressed kids," Sin replied.

"What's this nightclub's name?" Beast Boy asked.

"Crimson Desires! The hottest, darkest spot in all of Jump City!" Sin said, grinning again.

"I'll go get the T-Car?" Cyborg grumbled.

"There is no need for that. I already have some transportation ready for all of you," Sin said.

"You did?" Cyborg said.

Sin's grin turned devilish, and he pointed at the road connected to the city. On the road, waited two black limousines, and a black extended Hummer.

"Where did those from? They weren't there when we came back!" Beast Boy said, staring wide-eyed at the vehicles.

Sin chuckled and walked to the first limo. "Robin! You, Raven, and Starfire will ride with me. Cyborg and your furry friend there will ride in the Hummer. The rest of you will ride in the second limo," Sin said.

The drivers got out of the vehicles in perfect unison. They walked over to the passenger doors and opened them. Each driver looked exactly the same, except for their hair. One was blonde while the other two were brunettes and some facial difference, but everything else was the same. They all wore black suit with black driving gloves. Sin walked over to the opened door and stood by it. He smiled to them and gestured with his left arm for everyone to get in.

Beast Boy was thrilled; he was going to ride in a limo. "Sweet!" he said, and ran to the second limo.

He literally jumped in head first into the limo. The other Titans sighed and got into the vehicles. Sin waited for Robin, Raven, and Starfire to settle inside before he got in. Robin sat in the middle of the far back seat. Raven sat on his right and Starfire sat one his left. Sin sat in the seat right behind the driver, he waved his hand and the driver closed the door. They got back into the driver's seat and drove them into town. The Titans felt very awkward riding in the limos, except Beast Boy. He was busy pushing all the buttons and sticking his head out of the sunroof, morphing into a dog with his tongue hanging out.

Sin seemed completely relaxed in the limo, he crossed his legs in a gentlemen fashion, and he rested his arms along the rim of his seat. None of them spoke during the ride. It left an eerie silence hanging in the limo, which was driving Robin nuts. His heightened hearing could detect everything inside and outside the limo. He heard the roar of the engine, the sound of the passing cars, the wind beating on the metallic frame of the limo. It was getting to be too much for him to bear. He needed someone to start talking so he could distract himself from the noise. If he didn't, he'd go insane from all the infernal noise.

"So, Uh, Sin! You're pretty rich, huh? I mean, if you can afford limos and an extended Hummer," Robin deduced, trying to start a conversation.

"You are correct, Robin, I am quite rich. When you have lived, or unlived, as long as I have, you learn how to invest your money well," Sin replied causally.

"How long have you, uh, unlived, Sin?" Starfire asked.

"The mouse speaks to me at last! Well, little princess, I'm older than any human you've ever met," Sin replied.

"I only know of a few humans, most between fifteen and fifty. Are you thirty years old, Sin?" Starfire asked.

Sin threw his head back, laughing madly.

"Did I say something funny? I only said he looked thirty, because he looks around that age group for human standards?" Starfire said.

"I don't think he is thirty, Star," Robin said.

"How old do you think he is then?" Starfire said.

"That's hard to tell, Starfire," Robin said.

"Why?" Starfire said.

"Because vampires don't grow old," Raven interjected.

"W-What?" Starfire gasped.

"We never grow old like mortals. When we become children of darkness we stay the way we look for all eternity," Sin said.

"Then that means Robin will always look the way he does now, forever?" Starfire said in awe.

"Correct! When you grow old and dying, he will still look the same and will keep on unliving, until the end of time," Sin said. "…Or if someone comes along and kills him."

Starfire imagined herself old and dying, as Sin described it, with Robin still young beside her. Robin saw the image in her mind. He began thinking of what it would be like when that day came. The thought of losing Starfire like that terrified him. It didn't before, because he always thought he'd grow old alongside her, but now that would never happen. He would never age as she grew older, and then some day… she would die. Then an idea popped into his head.

"Sin can—?"

"Don't ask me that, Robin!" Sin interrupted.

"Wha—, but why?" Robin said.

"Because not everyone can become a Nosferatu. She is a strong girl. I'll give her that, but she wouldn't be able to survive the transformation," Sin said.

"That doesn't explain much," Robin grumbled.

"Robin! Please, don't talk about this! I am trying to get used to you being a Nosferatu. The thought of me becoming one is-is too much!" Starfire said, looking down at the floor.

"She is right. Robin, let's not talk about this right now. We're going out to party, not mope!" Sin said, looking cheery but only succeeded in looking scarier.

Robin stared at Starfire for the rest of the ride. She would times look at him, but when she saw his eyes, she'd look away. Raven watched Robin while he was watching Starfire. She saw every movement his face made, every flicker of emotion swimming in his crimson orbs. She couldn't stop feeling sad for Robin. He probably has gone through hell since last night, and here was Starfire, making him feel so miserable.

' _Why is Starfire acting this way? Doesn't she realize what she doing to him by treating him like he was some kind of monster! I can't believe her! Why can't she—whoa! Why am I getting all so worked up about this? It's not like what I think matters to Robin anyway. He cares more for Starfire…then he'd ever consider for me,'_ Raven thought.

She looked away from Robin, and she noticed Sin was watching her with pure amusement on his face.

' _Grr! Don't tell me he heard that! He better not have or else I'll show him what I do to people who invade my privacy!'_ Raven thought angrily, glaring at Sin.

He smirked at her, and he looked away. The ride took half an hour for them to arrive to the club Sin mentioned, parking right in front of a large and strange building. When they all got out of the vehicles, Robin examined the nightclub. At first glance, it looked like an old warehouse, but by looking more closely. The place was modeled on the front to resemble a castle or some kind of manor.

A huge red neon sign reading, _**'Crimson Desires'**_ , __hung just about five feet above the entrance.

A line of people stood along the nightclub, leading from the doors to almost the end of the street. The doors looked strange to Robin as he looked at them more closely. There were two huge red doors, with some kind of gothic-looking symbols written on them. Some of the symbols looked like snakes wrapped around panthers or some big cat. The door handles were made to resemble three snakes, coiling around each other. Their fangs bit into the doors, and their tails curled up in a form of an S for someone to grab and open the doors. The Titans walked up to the doors, finding a big muscular man stand guard in front of them. He had on only blue denim jeans and a black muscle shirt. He wore army boots and a buckled belt around his waist. His sleeves were rolled up, so people could see his huge muscular arms. Each arm was bigger than Cyborg's, and he stood a good six two in height. He had a long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, and a slight bread and mustache around his mouth. Everything about this big man screamed bouncer. The Titans walked straight up to the doors and the big man held up a beefy hand, halting them.

"Whoa, kids! You've got to get in line just like everyone else," he grunted. His voice sounded very rugged and dry.

Sin sauntered up behind them. "It's all alright, Chuck, they're with me," he said.

"Oh, Master! You've returned early tonight!" Chuck said.

"Master?" Robin said, eyeing the grinning Nosferatu.

"He always calls me that. Hey, Chuck! Open up the doors already, we have some special guest tonight, the Teen Titans!" Sin said, resting his hands on Robin's shoulders.

"The Teen Titans, huh?" Chuck said, with a look of confusion.

He looked at all of them, and then his eyes landed on Robin. When he saw Robin, the big man smiled broadly and chuckled heartily. He looked up at Sin and nodded. He turned around and reached for the handles, and he pulled the huge doors open with ease. The doors squeaked loudly, and when they were barely cracked open, they were blasted by the loud noises inside. Sin patted Robin's shoulders and walked in front of the now opened doors. He turned to them with his devilish grin on his face. He spread his arms out dramatically and gestured for them to enter.

"Heh, heh! Welcome to the night life, Titans!" Sin said, breaking out in a mad laughter.

A/N: I hope you're all enjoying this story. If you want to see more keep those reviews coming and I'll do my best to get the updates going and posted for your enjoyment!


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: You already know, but I'll say it again! I don't own Teen Titans, but I do own Sin! I don't own 'My Immortal' that belongs to Evanescence (They so rock!)

 **Longing Wishes**

The Titans entered the nightclub, amazed by all the scenery. Inside, the place looked like a castle. At once time, the place may have had two floors, but now a section in the middle of the second floor had been taken down. It now was only a long walkway for people to go up and chat, or watch the dance floor in the middle of the club. The railing was designed to resemble a medieval courtyard; stone was lined against the walls to look like castle walls. Flags with unknown designs hung on the rims on the railings. There were four huge pillars standing erect on the four corners of the club. Each one had a figure of someone craved into the pillars.

All four figures had their arms outstretched, looking down at the dance floor. Raven was marveled by their workmanship as she studied them with great interest. They reminded her of the statues back in the temples on Azarath. The four figures were robed with hoods over their heads, concealing their eyes. The figures had wings on their backs, all spread out, the wing tips touched all the way up to the roof. She then noticed the ceiling was painted like the night sky. Black, merging with shades of purple and red, the moon in the night sky was blood red. Whoever painted it made it look so realistic, it almost appeared as if the roof wasn't there. Like someone had removed the ceiling, and you were looking at a real night sky. She was so taken back by the beautiful artwork; she didn't notice her friends walking off to mingle with the crowd.

She examined the rest of the club, seeing a huge bar along the right wall of the club. The wall behind the bar was lined with dozens of bottles. The bar counter was crafted from stone, or appeared to be; along the edges of the counter were grinning skulls. She glanced at the other side of the club. On that side, tables and booths were set up for people to sit and rest. At the back of the club, a DJ dressed in gothic clothes, was busy with his music equipment. Stereos, taller than her, stood on each side of the DJ's stand, as well as on the walls. She looked over her shoulder to see her friend's reactions. When she saw they weren't there anymore, she looked at the crowd.

Her eyes widened slightly as she saw the kind of people in the club. Sin was right; no one would notice costumed heroes. Almost everyone in the place was dressed in weird clothing. Some people were dressed in normal clothing, but the rest were dressed in unusual clothing. A few wore whole leather getups. Others wore costumes almost similar to superheroes. Then there were your ordinary Goths and head bangers. She was able to spot Wildebeest easily enough, because he was taller than anyone in the club. She saw Cyborg, Beast Boy, Speedy, and Hot Spot with him. They were busy flirting with a group of girls at a table. She found Robin and Starfire sitting at one of the booths, looking very uncomfortable. Actually, Starfire was eyeing the whole place like a scared rabbit. Robin looked for the most part relaxed, but he looked upset too. Raven's first thought was to go over there and try lightening up his mood. Then she caught what she was thinking and mentally slapped herself.

'What's the matter with me?' Raven thought.

She walked over to bar and sat on a stool on the corner near the entrance. She took one last glance at the crowd, she realized Sin disappeared again; he wasn't anywhere to be seen. She turned away from the crowd and put her elbows on the bar counter. She rested her chin in her hands, and she sighed heavily. The loud music stopped when the current song ended. The DJ began roaming through his CD selection for the next song to play. He found the CD he was looking for, and he put it in the player system and pressed play. A piano started playing in a slow beat out of the speakers. Raven looked up swiftly and turned her head to the DJ's stand.

'Evanescence?' Raven thought.

I'm so tired of being here  
Suppressed by all of my childish fears  
And if you have to leave  
I wish that you would just leave  
Because your presence still lingers here  
And it won' leave me alone

Raven turned around on her stool, so she was facing the crowd. She leaned the arch of her back against the edge of the counter, and she rested her elbows on it. She eyed the crowed, seeing everyone on the dance floor slow dancing to the song. She looked at the booth Robin and Starfire were at, but she found them gone. She scanned the club and soon saw them on the dance floor, dancing closely to one another. Robin held Starfire close to his chest. Starfire had her head resting on his left shoulder. Raven felt again bitterness settle at the pit of her stomach.

'Why are my emotions acting this way? I've never felt like this before. Why now? Why do I feel like there's a hole growing inside me…?' Raven thought sadly.

These wounds won't seem to heal  
This pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase  
When you cried I'd wipe away all the your tears  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me

Starfire wrapped her arms around his waist. Robin leaned his head on hers and wrapped his arms, from what Raven, saw Starfire's trembling shoulders, it seemed the more he touched her, the more she trembled. He pulled away some and the trembling lessened, and she tried smiling for him to make him know she was fine. The bitterness in Raven turned into great depression.

'Stop this, Raven! I can't afford to allow my emotions to eat at me on the inside!' As she thought this, the bottles behind the bar began to shake. 'It's pointless to get so worked up about this! Why am I so bothered with this now? Robin has been and will be with Starfire, that's it! No point in feeling anything about it…but why can't I stop wishing that it's me in his arms right now,' Raven thought bitterly.

You used to captivate me  
By your resonating light  
But now I'm bound by a life you left behind  
Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams  
Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

'I'm going to drive myself crazy, if I keep thinking like this! Those two belong together I should be happy they're together, but I'm not! I wonder why I'm not, it's not like I'm-! No, no! It can't be that!' Raven bit her bottom lip and began rubbing her arms. 'It can't be, but it must be true. Oh, god! I'm-I'm jealous! I'm jealous of Starfire being with Robin. I can't be jealous! Starfire is my best friend. I can't be wishing to be with him instead of her! I've never felt like this towards those two before!' Raven lowered her head, and she hugged herself tightly. 'That's not true…I've always felt like this. I've just always denied it. I could never tell Robin how I really felt about three years ago, because I knew how much Star felt about him. She wasn't afraid to admit any of her feelings. And then that horrible day he told Star his feelings to her. I-I lost all hope. That's why she deserves him and why I must remain alone…' Raven thought. Her powers reacted to all the bitter sorrow in her heart, causing a few of the stools by the bar to go flying off along, with a few people still on the stools.

These wounds won't seem to heal  
This pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase

Raven looked away from Robin and Starfire, and she rested her head in her crossed arms on the counter. 'It's not fair! Why can't I be honest with my emotions? Why couldn't I have been like everyone else? Maybe then I would have been able to tell Robin how I feel about him!' Raven thought, feeling tears begin to build up.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me

'I can't stop thinking about him! Why can't I stop thinking about him? He's with Star, not me. I should just forget all my feelings for him and move on, but I can't, why?! Why!' Raven screamed in her head.

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone  
And through you're still with me I've been alone all along

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I've held your hand through all of these years  
But you still have all of me.

The music ended and Robin and Starfire went back to their booth. Raven had her eyes closed, struggling mentally with her inner torment. She just wanted to disappear right then and there and never be seen again.

"Hey, little girl! You gonna buy a drink or are you going to mope on my counter all night?" Raven heard a gruffly irritated voice say.

Raven looked up with watery eyes at a middle-aged man behind the bar. He was dressed in a white cotton t-shirt, wearing black cargo pants, and he had a buckled belt that looked just like the one she saw Chuck wearing. His hair was cut very short, almost buzzed, all around his round head. His face looked like he'd been in quite a few fights in his life. His nose looked broken in two places. His eyes were a pale hazel, and his eyebrows were bushy and curly. He had a square face with round cheekbones. All in all, he looked pretty well muscular everywhere, but Raven thought this guy definitely wouldn't be in any calendar or magazine cover.

"Well?" he growled at Raven.

"I-I'll have some herbal tea, please," Raven said.

"Herbal tea?! What the hell does this place look like! Some cheesy café?" he barked.

"Jeff! Shut the fuck up and get this young lady her tea, NOW!"

Jeff went stiff all over, staring over Raven's head. She turned around to find Sin glaring at Jeff.

"Y-Yes, sir!" Jeff whimpered, running off to get Raven her drink.

Sin chuckled at seeing Jeff run off like a bat out of hell. He loved to do that to people. He looked at Raven with pure amusement on his face. "Don't mind Jeff, Raven. He's a grouch to everyone, but he's a fine and loyal person deep inside," he said, grinning at her.

Raven just looked at him blankly, and then put her head back down on the counter. Sin tilted his head slightly. He looked at her with puzzled expression, a second later, though, a small grin crept on his face. He walked over and sat on a stool next to Raven that hadn't flown off. He crossed his arms on the counter, and he rested his head in them, resembling the exact same position Raven was in. He even wore the same sad expression Raven had on her face.

"Wanna talk about it?" Sin asked.

"Why! You can just read my mind and found out yourself!" Raven snapped at him.

"You seemed to have a problem with that, so I thought I'd be polite and ask this time," Sin said calmly.

"It's none of your business!" Raven said.

"Actually, I think it is my business. Especially if it involves a certain boy wonder!" Sin said offhandedly.

Raven sat straight up, eyeing Sin in bewilderment and a little bit of fear. "How did you—  
! I-I mean…" Raven stuttered awkwardly.

Sin sat up and turned around on his stool to face the crowd. "Oh, please, Raven! It was obvious! Just watching how you acted around Robin was enough for me to figure it out," Sin said, leaning his back against the counter and resting his right elbow on it.

"I-It's that noticeable?" Raven groaned, feeling really pathetic right now.

Sin shrugged his shoulders, rolling his head so his face was plain for her to see. "Only to someone who notices small details," Sin replied with a devilish grin playing on his face.

Raven lowered her head, and she tried to pull her hood completely over her face, so no one could see her red face. Sin laughed lightly, and his eyes swiftly looked back to the dance floor.

"Humph!" Sin grunted distastefully.

Raven pulled her hood up slightly so she could see what was going on. She saw a look of contempt on Sin's face. She followed his glance and saw a girl trying to get Robin to dance with her. Robin was ignoring her, mainly because Starfire was latched onto his left arm possessively, glaring at the girl with green glowing eyes. Raven shook her head, and she glanced back to Sin. He looked down at the floor, shaking her head slowly.

"Pitiful," he murmured.

"What's pitiful?" Raven asked.

"The way those two are acting! That's what's pitiful!" Sin growled.

"You have a problem with Robin being with Starfire?" Raven said.

"The complete opposite, Raven. I have a problem with Starfire being with Robin," Sin replied.

"What!? W-Why?" Raven asked curiously.

"I can see doubt and fear lurking in her heart. She is now questioning her feelings towards Robin, because of what has happened to him." His face became a little sad, but only by a fraction. "She's letting her fear of Robin's change rule her judgment."

"That can't be true! Why would Starfire feel differently about Robin?" Raven said.

"Because she is what you would call one of the innocent people. She can only understand things that she believes to be pure and good. She could never understand anything that is touched by darkness. She'd run away…or try to kill it," Sin replied.

"What? Star would never think of killing Robin!" Raven said.

"True, but that doesn't mean she'll try getting as far away from him as possible," Sin retorted with a grunt.

"If that's true, then how can you explain why she is a good friend to someone like me?" Raven remarked.

"Easy! You're not undead! You look and act like a normal human, even with your dark powers. That's nothing too threatening at all, but what we are is far more threatening! We drink blood and relish in the essence of death itself. She can sense that in Robin, and her inner voice is telling her Robin is a danger to her," Sin said.

"You mean, Starfire is no longer in love with Robin? " Raven said, as much as she hated to admit it, she hoped it was true.

"No, she is still in love with him. That is the only reason why she's still near him, in hopes he'll be cured and be the old Robin he once was," Sin informed her.

"Then…It's hopeless for her to have her wish," Raven said, She knew she should be sad, but deep down, she wasn't, and she despised herself for it.

"Hopeless for her, yes…but not for you!" Sin said, grinning devilishly at her.

Raven's eyes grew huge, and her heart began to race. Her powers made a few of the bottle behind the bar exploded.

Sin looked at the mess, and chuckled, "Jeff is going to be pissed! Heh, heh!"

"N-No, I can't! Robin loves Starfire, he would never see me in that kind of light, not like how he sees Starfire," Raven said hastily, trying to control her emotions.

"But he can't see the light anymore, Raven! Now, he can only see what lies within the darkness. He can see things that were once hidden from his sights as a human! Particularly, a certain someone who has feelings for him," Sin said.

"No! Why am I even talking about this with you? Robin is a wonderful guy, he deserves Starfire," Raven said, even if it hurt to say it.

"But does Starfire deserve Robin?" Sin replied.

"Yes, she does!" Raven stated firmly.

"Why? Who says so, because she is beautiful, because she is popular and gets along with everyone. Well, almost everyone! AHAHAHAHA! Why should she be the only one to be happy?" Sin questioned.

"B-Because Robin only sees Starfire, he could never see…me," Raven said sadly.

"Have you ever tried showing you liked Robin?" Sin asked.

"No, I never could whenever Starfire was around, she always had his undivided attention," Raven said.

Jeff came back with Raven's tea and shoved it to her. "Here's your damn tea! That'll be—!"

"Nothing! Anything she and her friends order are on the house," Sin hissed, eyeing Jeff dangerously.

"O-Okay, boss!" Jeff said, quickly walking of to serve the next customer.

Raven rolled her eyes. "You own this place, don't you?" she accused.

Sin answered her with a wicked smile; he laughed, and said, "What gave it away? Heh, heh!"

Raven sipped her tea, mumbling: "Stupid vampire."

"Grumpy witch!" Sin shot back. He laughed harder for a while, then he return to his devilish expression. "So, you've never tried to show Robin your feelings for him, huh?"

"I can't afford to. My emotions trigger my powers and if I feel anything, they get violent," Raven said quietly.

"That can't be completely true! Here you are talking to me sad and depressed. Those are emotions! You cared for Robin on the way to this club and still nothing happened. Maybe, you just put too much thought in your powers, or you have more control over them than you think," Sin surmised.

"Even IF that was true I can never express myself to Robin, no point," Raven replied.

"Only because of Starfire! I believe everyone is entitled to some happiness, and I think you are overdue!" Sin said.

"Why do you care who Robin should be with? He's already got Starfire! Why should it matter if he's…if he's with me?" Raven asked.

"Because you still see him as your friend, you fully understand what he has become, what he must do to survive! You are able to see past those barriers and even knowing he is Nosferatu, an undead creature! You still care for him, where's his precious Starfire is treating him like a wolf that's ready to bite her. I know how much he means to you, and he'll need that for the hardships to come," Sin said.

"What kind of hardships?" Raven asked worriedly.

"A Nosferatu's life is nothing but hardship! We must face our friends and loved ones vanish before our eyes. We must fight every night just to see the next. Death is a constant companion wherever we go. For someone like Starfire, she will not be able to comprehend any of this," Sin said.

"I think you're underestimating her," Raven said.

"For all my years I have existed I know how a person will act! I was hoping her love for Robin would be unconquerable…but sadly I see weaves of fear overlapping her better judgment," Sin said.

"How?" Raven asked confused.

Sin's expression saddened slightly. "My ability to read people is different from other Nosferatu. While other Nosferatu can only read minds I can read a person's soul, the dark side of the soul to be more precise. It's a curse as well as a gift, Raven. There are some things in a person's soul you never want to see, even if there mind is troubled. Looking into someone's soul can be a very dramatic and terrifying experience. I have gotten used to it over the centuries. That's how I could read your mind, Raven. The mind is a house of information, as you already know. I used the dark side of your soul like using a back door to get in undetected," Sin explained.

"So, that's how you did it. Uh, can Robin do that as well?" Raven said.

"Don't know? A Nosferatu's abilities differ from one another, but I don't think he can, even if I showed him how to do it," Sin replied.

Raven breathed a sigh of relief, but she still had a depressed look about her features. Sin looked at the floor for a second, and then brought his head back up with a grin on his face. "Man! Your depressive nature is making me feel down! I've got an idea to change the mood! Why don't we show what Robin is truly missing with you!" Sin said, jumping off his stool gracefully. He gestured with his left hand for Raven to take it.  
"How are we going to do that?" Raven asked, staring at Sin's hand.

"That's easy, we're going to dance!" Sin answered, laughing insanely.

A/N: Hope you all like this chapter. Please R&R for me, thanks! 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans and you already know Sin is my property. The song _Original Sin_ belongs to Jim Steinman who wrote the lyrics, but was song by Taylor Dayne.

 **Dancing Demons**

"D-Dance?!" Raven gawked in bafflement.

"Yes, dance! It has always been the best tool to use to reveal someone's hidden potential!" Sin stated.

"But I-I can't dance…" Raven informed him, looking embarrassed for admitting she doesn't know how to dance.

"If you do as I say, you will astonish everyone on that dance floor! It'll be easy once you get started," Sin said encouragingly.

"But I—," before she could finish, Sin reached for her with both hands and gently yanked her off her seat.

"Trust me, Raven! After I show you what to do, you'll put the best dancer to shame," Sin said.

' _Why is it so hard to say no to this guy?'_ Raven thought.

"Maybe, it's because of my devilish charms!" Sin teased.

"Ah! You did it again!" Raven yelled.

" _AHAHAHAHA!_ Sorry! Okay, let's get started, the first thing you got to know is how to follow the beat," Sin began instructing.

"I know the fundamentals of dancing. I just don't know any of the styles," Raven grumbled.

"In that case just follow my lead and you'll do fine!" Sin said, leading her to the dance floor.

"N-No! This is too embarrassing!" Raven said, trying to stop Sin from leading her to the dance floor.

"Only if you don't try. Just keep your eyes on me, Raven. That's all you have to do and follow my steps," Sin said. He suddenly stopped just at the edge of the dance floor and let go of Raven. He tilted his head slightly, as if listening to something. "This music is no good!"

He looked at the DJ and the DJ instantly looked at him without a word from Sin. All Sin did was smile at him and the DJ smiled back, going through his selection. He pulled out a different CD and put it in the player system. Sin turned back to face Raven, and he rose his arm up in a graceful-like manner for Raven to accept his hand. Raven took his hand and almost winced, because his touch was ice-cold, but strangely got warm after a few seconds, warming her numb fingers back to their normal temperature. He cupped her hand gently as the music started with a piano playing a slow melody. He walked backwards in rhythm with the beat, pulling Raven slowly to the center of the dance floor. Everyone in the center cleared the spot on seeing Sin and Raven approaching. Raven looked nervously at all the people looking at her, wishing to vanish in some hole and never come out for the rest of her life.

"Don't pay any attention to them, Raven. Keep your eyes on me and forgot about everyone else around you," Sin reminded her.

He pulled her close to him and placed his left on her shoulder. He would have placed it on her side, but she was so short compared to him. Raven placed her hand on his right hip, seeing how she couldn't reach his shoulder for the opposite problem that he was too tall for her.

"Now, just remember to follow where I move and don't hesitate. Just go with it!" Sin instructed.

Sin began to move with the music, taking one step back, then one step forward and two steps to the right, making Raven turn in a half-circle as he stepped to her left side, moving them in a small circular pattern in the space the crowd created for them. He kept this up until he felt Raven relaxing, then he started moving Raven into a waltz. Then a woman with a powerful voice began to sing softly in the air.

 _I've been looking for an original sin_

 _One with a twist and a bit of a spin_

 _And since I've done all of the old ones_

 _Till they've all been done in_

 _Now I'm just looking_

 _Then I'm gone with the wind_

 _Endlessly searching for an sin_

The music picked up faster as more instruments began to play with the piano. A guitar blasted into life, and a drum started beating furiously, a chorus began singing along with the woman. As that happened, Sin began to move a little faster with the steps and twirled her around him. They started dancing similar to a tango, but it seemed to be a like salsa, too.

 _You can dance forever_

 _You got a fire in your feet_

 _But will it ever be enough?_

 _You know that it'll never be enough_

 _You can fly and never land_

 _And never to sleep_

 _But will it ever be enough?_

 _It's not enough to make the_

 _Nightmares go away_

 _It's not enough to make the tears run dry_

 _And who knows what evil lurks in the_

 _Heart of men today_

 _It's a city of shadow_

 _It's a city of lies_

 _It's a city of crime_

 _It'll all be over now_

The crowd around them began to build up. The Titans were able to get in front of the crowd and they watched Sin and Raven dance. They were amazed by how well the two were dancing. Their bodies moved in perfect rhythm with the music, it was like they were in their own world, forgetting everyone around and only concentrating on the other. Raven glanced and saw Robin was watching her. She made a point to move her hips seductively to see how he would respond. Sin caught on quickly and helped dance more erotically with the music. Her movement had the desired affect, all the boys in the crowd stared at her, and few women as well, but most of them were watching Sin. He made a quick bow to the crowd as he spun on his right heel and wrapped his arms back around Raven. When Sin twirled her under his arm, she saw Robin was watching closely. He looked lost in their movements and the music. It was like someone let him enter Sin and Raven's private world. He couldn't take his eyes off her. She looked so enchanting as she flowed with the rhythm. The more he watched her dance, the more he became aware of just how attractive Raven really was.

"Whoa! I had no idea Raven could dance like that?" Beast Boy said, dumbfounded.

"You go, Raven!" Cyborg cheered her on.

"Raven never told me she could dance so gracefully!" Starfire said brightly.

He barely heard Starfire. It took Robin a moment to realize she was talking to him. He shook his head, and replied, "Tonight's just full of surprises…"

Then he was entranced again as he returned to watching Raven. He tried to look away at a few points when Raven pulled off a rather enticing move, but his eyes wouldn't dislodge themselves from her. After a while he gave up trying and decided to enjoy watching Raven. The music slowed a little and Sin slowed down some, giving Raven a little break from all the fast movement that her body wasn't used to doing. Now, it looked almost like they were waltzing, only a bit faster than customly done.

 _All I wanted was a piece of the night_

 _I never got an equal share_

 _When the stars are out of sight_

 _And the moon is down_

 _The natives are so restless tonight_

 _I've been looking for the ultimate crime_

 _Infinite victims, infinitesimal time_

 _And I'm so very guilty for no reason for rhyme_

 _So now I'm just looking_

 _And I'm just looking_

 _And I'm killing some time_

 _Endlessly searching for the ultimate crime_

"You're doing wonderful, Raven!" Sin complimented

"T-Thanks!" Raven huffed.

Sin spun her around, rearing his head back and laughing maniacally.

"The guy might be insane, but he sure can dance," Speedy said.

Wildebeest grunted and nodded his head in agreement.

"Man's got class," Hot Spot said.

 _You can lose yourself in pleasure_

 _Till your body's going numb_

 _But will it ever be enough?_

 _You know it that it'll never be enough_

 _You can always take whatever_

 _You conceivably could want_

 _But will it ever be enough?_

 _You know that it'll never enough_

 _It's not enough to make the_

 _Nightmares go away_

 _It's not enough to make the tears run dry_

 _And who knows what evil lurks in the_

 _Heart of men today_

 _It's a city of shadow_

 _It's a city of lies_

 _It's a city of cruelty_

 _It's a city of crime_

 _It'll all be over now_

 _All I wanted was a piece of the night_

 _I never got an equal share_

 _When the stars are out of sight_

 _And the moon is down_

 _The natives are so restless tonight_

Suddenly, Sin let go of Raven, but they kept dancing, facing each other. He began stomping with the beat and Raven did the same. They took two steps forward, then one step left, circling each other, and then they stepped two times backwards. They repeated this pattern, stomping with the beat, going faster with every stomp.

 _I've been looking for an original sin_

 _One with a twist and a bit of a spin_

 _And since I've done all the old ones_

 _Till they've all been done in_

 _Now I'm just looking_

 _Then I'm gone with the wind_

 _Endlessly searching for an original sin_

The music slowed back down to just the piano, playing slowly and steadily. Sin and Raven stopped stomping and started to waltz again.

 _I'm applying for a license to thrill_

 _Going out on the edge_

 _Moving in for the kill_

 _And there'll be hell to pay someday_

 _Put it all on the bill_

 _Cause we'll always be paying_

 _And paying until_

 _Way beyond expiration_

 _With a license to thrill_

The song ended and the two stopped dancing. Sin took a step back and bowed in a gentlemen-like manner to Raven. She blushed slightly and nodded her head. The crowd began clapping and cheering them. Sin started clapping along with them and flashed Raven a fanged smile. The Titans came up to Raven, cheering her on more.

"That was sweet, Raven! You were awesome out there!" Beast Boy said.

"Yeah! I never knew you had it in ya, girl," Cyborg added.

Robin walked up to Raven, grinning at her, he most of all was amazed by Raven. "Wow, Raven! You were really something out there," He complimented. Raven blushed furiously, crossing her arms behind her back, and she stared at his feet.

' _Is Raven blushing? She is! I can't believe she's blushing!'_ he thought in amazement.

Another song started up, breaking Robin's trail of thought, it was a slow song, perfect for couples to dance to.

"Robin, why don't you be a gentlemen and ask Raven to dance this next one, hmm?" Sin suggested, winking slightly at Raven.

"Uh? S-Sure. Raven, would you like to dance this one, or are you too tired?" Robin asked, surprised that he was feeling anxious to dance with her.

It took every ounce of her will not to jump up, and shout, "PLEASE!" Instead, she shrugged her shoulders, and said, "One more dance won't kill me."

Robin extended his right hand and Raven accepted it, he pulled her close to him and placed his other hand on Raven's slender hip. The feel of having Robin's hand there sent a shivering sensation up her spine. She placed her right hand on his shoulder and the two began to waltz. Everyone else around the Titans paired with their partners and started dancing. The Titans found willing dance partners easy enough, being so well known and all, and they started dancing as well, all except for Starfire and Speedy. She looked completely lost with not having Robin with her. She eyed everyone around her nervously as she walked back to the booth, until she felt a finger tap her shoulder.

"AH!" Starfire screamed. She swirled around quickly, charging a starbolt and almost fired it till she saw who it was. "Speedy?!"

"Whoa! Uh, sorry, Starfire. I didn't mean to scare you," Speedy said, flinging up his arms.

"Forgive my actions, but I'm a bit _high-strung_ at the moment," Starfire said, rubbing the back of her head.

"I don't blame you! This place is cool…but it really gives me the creeps. Hey! Umm, Star? W-Would you care to dance with me," Speedy said, blushing slightly.

"Sure," Starfire said, happy she wouldn't be alone in this creepy club.

They began to dance nervously at first, but Starfire soon felt relaxed with dancing with Speedy. _'He dances like Robin! I wonder what else he has in common with Robin?…No! I did not just think that! Robin would be ashamed of me if he knew I just thought of Speedy that way!'_ Starfire berated herself.

Sin had returned to the bar, watching Starfire dance with Speedy. _'Hmm, fate seems to have chosen quite a bit of chaos for Robin and Starfire. Especially, now that Speedy seems to have taking an interest in the Tamaranean!'_ Sin thought, chuckling darkly. He sat on a stool and glanced over to where Robin and Raven were dancing. "That looks right! Those two look very happy together. I wonder how long before Robin realizes this too?" Sin mused to himself.

On the dance floor, Raven was enjoying being in Robin's arms. She never thought he'd ever touch her like this, even if it was only for one night, she wanted to enjoy every second of this. Robin was surprisingly enjoying himself dancing with Raven.

' _She's so relaxed, she's not trembling like Star was when we danced. If I didn't know any better I think Raven is—! No way! That could never happen. Raven has never shown the slightest sign she was interested in me,'_ Robin thought.

Robin looked in to her eyes and felt a fluttery feeling in his stomach. With his heightened vision, he could make out every detail of her face. Her skin looked smooth and perfect. The way her lips were lined made the small smile she had on look glorious. The shape of her face was exquisite. He was marveled by how the light shined in her lavender hair, it made it glow with an ethereal beauty adding more to her already lovely features. He unconsciously held her a little tighter. _'_

 _She feels so soft, why haven't I ever noticed how beautiful she really is? Huh? Did I just think what I just thought about Raven?! Why am I thinking of her like this? Calm down, Robin. It's probably this beast thingy, trying to mess with my head,'_ Robin thought.

Raven saw his expression grow troubled.

"Are you all right, Robin?" She asked.

Robin shook his head quickly; he tried to think up an excuse for her. He didn't want to tell her what he was just thinking about her. He knew she'd probably get angry with him for thinking of her that way, but he couldn't think straight. There were too many things going on in his head.

"Huh? Oh, i-it's nothing, Raven! It's just I keep hearing so many voices in my head…wait…That didn't come out right!" Robin said. It was true though, all the things going through his head were the thoughts of everyone around him, except hers.

Raven giggled, and then looked shocked. _'I just giggled!'_ she thought. Raven turned red and quickly said, "Sorry…"

"Don't be sorry, you should do that more often, it was…nice," Robin said warmly. Thanks to the blood from Sin, he was able to blush slightly.

Sin was smiling like a maniac at the two.

"Okay…" Raven replied quietly.

Robin smiled, revealing his new fangs to Raven, and then he suddenly stopped smiling. Last time he smiled like that was when he was dancing with Starfire. When she saw his fangs, she flinched. Raven didn't respond the same like she did. Instead, she moved in closer to him, laying her head on his chest.

"You don't have to hide them, Robin. They don't bother me," Raven said softly.

Robin felt a tightness in his chest. _'This is just like that dream!'_ Robin thought.

Sin's expression suddenly turned very serious. _'Dream? What dream?!'_ He thought. His eyes turned into a deeper shade of red as he read Robin's mind, and then he started chuckling wickedly. _'Well, well! It seems I was right. Those two do belong together. Ha, ha, ha! They were meant to be with one another! Perfect, this will make my plans far more easier! Now…all I need to do is get Starfire out of the picture and lead Robin in the right direction. Hehehehehe! This is working out better than I dared to dream!'_

The two danced in silence for a while, until Raven broke silence. "I-I was very worried you might have died last night," she said.

"You were? W-Why?" Robin asked curiously.

"I know you think of me as an emotionless ice queen, who doesn't care about anything, but when I saw you covered in blood and not moving. I-I was ready to cry," Raven admitted, burying her face in Robin's left shoulder.

Robin felt a mixture of emotions hit him at once. He felt some of Raven's defenses fall down, and he sensed she was telling him the truth. He didn't know what to say to that. Raven had just opened up to him, and he was baffled as to why. She never admitted anything when it came to how she felt.

"R-Raven, I-I never thought of you that way. I never once thought you didn't care about anything. I know you have a hard time expressing yourself because of your powers," Robin managed to say at last.

"Really?" Raven said. Her heart was beating faster and Robin heard every beat.

"Yes, even when you didn't show it, you were and still are a good friend!" Robin said smiling.

"A friend…" Raven said heart fallen.

Sin slapped himself in the forehead. "Idiot!" he yelled, scaring the people near him. He brushed his bangs back with the same hand, thinking, _'That boy is clueless when it comes to a woman's feelings! Then again…he does still love Starfire, and I should be glad he's devoted to his loved one…but I can't have that, it's not meant to be. Besides, he looked so much happier with Raven than with her! And there's the_ dream _to consider…it was meant to be.'_

The song ended and Raven let go of Robin abruptly and all her defenses rose back up. In her monotone voice, she said, "Thanks for the dance, Robin." Then she walked off.

' _What was that about? Did I say something to upset her?'_ Robin thought. He ran after her and grabbed her arm. She stopped and tried not to look at him.

"Raven, I'm sorry! Did I do or say something wrong?" Robin asked.

Raven shook her head, saying, "No, Robin, you didn't do anything wrong, it's me. I'm a fool to have given into my emotions and to have listened to a stupid vampire!"

At the bar, Sin growled, "Grumpy witch!"

"Huh? I don't understand," Robin said, looking at her in confusion.

"I think that's how it should be; you better go back to Starfire, I'm sure she's missing you," Raven said emotionlessly. She tried to pull her arm free, but Robin had an iron grip on her. "Let go of my arm, Robin."

Robin was so confused. He didn't understand why Raven was acting this way, not when she had finally opened up to him a second ago, but he did let go of her, and she walked off, not even looking at him as she left the dance floor. Just as Raven left the dance floor, a group of boys came up and blocked her path. There were seven of them and they were all dressed in normal clothes, except for one. One of the boys was dressed in a silk white sheet and black leather pants. He wore ordinary boots, and he had a necklace on, the necklace was a gold chain with a medallion. The medallion had a symbol on it, a symbol of a spider with its legs wrapped around a skull under it. He had long brown hair, pulled back in a tight ponytail. His skin was tanned to a golden brown. His eyes were such a dark color of brown someone would have thought they were black. He sauntered up to Raven, crossing her arms and smirking at her.

"Hey, baby! How about you come with us, we'll show you a good time!" he said smugly. The boys behind him started laughing. He looked back at them like he said the best line.

"No, thanks. I don't waste my time with slime," Raven said in her monotone voice.

The boy stopped smirking and glared at her. "It isn't a choice, you little bitch! You're coming with us whether you want to not!" he growled. He lunged out to grab Raven with a hand, but another hand shot out and grabbed his. Raven blinked for a second, and then she looked next to her to see Robin holding the boy's hand, giving him a death glare.

"She said no!" Robin growled.

The boy didn't seem fazed by Robin. He just looked at Robin with a look of contempt. "This doesn't concern you, kid! You better let go of me and walk away before something bad happens to you," he warned.

Robin grinned at the tanned boy and let go of him. In a flash, his right foot came up and kicked the guy in the stomach. The kick sent him hurling backwards in the air, crashing into some people. The other boys looked at Robin and backed away. The tanned boy got up and held his stomach, grunting and cursing loudly.

He glared viciously at Robin. "You're gonna pay for that, you motherfucker! Kill that son of a bitch!" He shouted at the others.

The other boys looked back at him, and then looked back at Robin, unsure if that was a good idea. Robin smirked and got into a fighting position, waiting for them to make the first move.

"What are you chicken-shits waiting for? Get him!" the tanned boy ordered.

They looked back at him, terrified, then looked back to Robin and charged. All of a sudden, the music stopped, leaving the club in a deadly silence. A wicked laughter quickly broke the eerie silence that had befallen the club. All the boys froze where they were and looked with horror at the bar. Robin and Raven followed their glance at the bar and there was Sin, laughing psychotically, sitting on a barstool. His expression showed amusement, but his eyes told a different story. There was a glimmer of evil shining in his blood red eyes. They glared with murderous intentions at the boys. He got off his stool and walked very slowly to them, every step he took sounded like thunder booming in the air. The people around him backed away in fright, giving him way to the group of boys who stared at Sin in fear as he approached them. One boy tried to back away, but Sin's eyes landed on him. The youth cried out in fear and fell to the ground. He didn't try to get back up, because he was so scared of drawing more attention to himself. Sin strolled past the boys and walked up to the one who ordered them to attack. He eyed the tanned boy psychotically; the boy began to tremble with fear as he stared up at Sin. Robin could almost taste the boy's fear in his mouth like sweet honey dripping over his tongue. Sin slowly reached out one hand and lifted up the medallion the tanned boy wore up to his face.

"I see you belong to Stefan," Sin spoke with a voice filled with amusement, but it was thick with malice too.

"Y-Yes!" the tanned boy stuttered.

"I'm sure you're a good boy to your master, aren't you?…Carl!" Sin said, letting go of the medallion.

Carl's eyes widened with horror when Sin said he name, he tried to speak, but only babbled. Sin gave Carl an evil smile as he ran a finger along his jaw line, leaving a red line in the flesh. Robin could now sense Carl was scared out of his mind.

"Be a smart one then and don't do something that may ruin such a wonderful evening. I'll spare you this time, only because Stefan and I have history together," Sin said and grabbed Carl's jaw and lifted him up to where Carl had to stand on this toes. "If I ever see you again in my club I will peel off all that lovely tanned skin, and then hang you by barbed hooks. I'll drain every drop of blood and watch as you struggle to get down, tearing up more of that delicious flesh of yours," Sin said so plainly like it was nothing, but his eyes told him he'd do it without hesitation.

He let go of Carl's jaw and the boy dropped like a bag of potatoes to the floor. Carl fumbled to get back onto his feet, and he ran for the exit in full terror. The other boys with him quickly followed him out. Everyone in the club stared at Sin nervously, who was acting like he didn't do anything special, he just looked at everyone with his grinning face.

"I hope everyone enjoyed the show. Sorry, if you thought it was real. Heh, heh, heh! Crimson Desires always has a surprise for all your enjoyment. To make up to you all for the unexpected surprise, drinks are on the house!" Sin said, waving one hand to the bar, followed by loud cursing from Jeff.

Everyone cheered and rushed to the bar, except for the Titans.

"Who's Stefan?" Robin asked.

A look of disgust fell on Sin's face. "Another Nosferatu, a very dangerous one at that! He has a place outside of town a few miles away. He's the kind of person who'll kill anyone for no reason at all. He has a twisted sense of humor…more so than mine. It's wise to keep away from him, Robin, and the same goes for all of you!"

"How did you know he belonged to his Stefan guy?" Speedy asked.

"Besides reading the filths mind, the medallion he wore showed he was a servant to a Nosferatu," Sin replied.

"Why would he need servants?" Starfire asked.

"Because, Princess, we're not very _active_ during the daylight hours. We need someone to go out to do our business for us during that time," Sin stated.

"Oh," Starfire said.

"Shouldn't you be worried that guy will tell his master what you did to him?" Cyborg remarked.

"No, this club belongs to me and they know if you anger a Nosferatu in his territory, you'd be punished!" Sin purred darkly.

Starfire ran up to Sin. "Punished?! Why would they be punished for just angering a Nosferatu?"

"We have our own laws, Princess! Some of them are not very nice. In fact, most of them are very harsh! If a servant of a Nosferatu angers another, which could lead to a lethal retaliation! One that the servant's master wouldn't want to deal with will make amends quickly by seeing the servant is to be punished in anyway, including death if they saw fit to it," Sin said simply with a grin.

Starfire backed away from Sin and turned away from him. She wanted comfort and surprisingly walked to Speedy! Robin felt like someone just stabbed him in the heart from seeing Starfire go to Speedy, instead of him. He tried to catch Starfire's eyes, but she wouldn't look at him. Robin starting feeling his whole world come crashing down on him. First, he dies and comes back as a monster. Now, Starfire is treating him like one. Raven was surprised as well, she too didn't expect Starfire avoid Robin. Her heart went out to Robin, knowing that was a hard blow to him. She looked at Sin and saw the same expression she had on his face. He shook his head slowly and walked over to his side.

"I think it's getting late for your friends, Robin. They've been up all day and this has been quite a head turner for everyone this evening," Sin said.

"Yeah…it is getting late, guys, we need to get back to the Tower," Robin said depressively.

They went outside and Sin let the Titans use his limos and Hummer to drive back home, much to Beast Boy's joy. Robin was going to enter the first limo, when he felt Sin's hand touch his shoulder.

"Yes?" Robin said, looking back at him over his shoulder.

"Why don't you let your friends go back to our tower to rest? I wish to spend some time alone with you. I hadn't really had the chance yet to get to know you more without interruptions," Sin said.

"Sure," Robin said, seeing more harm in staying out a little while more, he wasn't tired yet, and he wanted to get to know more about the man who just changed his world. He looked inside the limo and glanced at Raven. "See you guys later. Oh! Uh, Raven, thanks for the dance and what you said to me. It meant a great deal to me. I'm sorry if I upset you tonight." He reached in a hand to pick up one of her hands and pulled it close to his face and kissed it softly.

Raven turned scarlet all over and stared at her feet. Starfire looked at her reaction, and then to Robin's warm expression, feeling somewhat agitated by the exchange.

Sin grinned devilishly, thinking, _'Maybe he's not so clueless after all! AHAHAHAH!'_

A/N: Hmm, interesting chapter, huh? Wonder what Sin's got planned for Robin. Keep reading to find out!


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. Sin and this story are mine!

A/N: I wish to apologize to everyone who has waited patiently for this update (takes off helmet and bows to everyone.) I've been on vacation up in New York and I had a dental appointment (Ouch!) I still worked on both of my stories during this time, as there wasn't anything else to do after getting my wisdom teeth pulled out…I didn't feel like doing much of anything after that experience.

On a special note: I like to thank everyone for the reviews, a special thanks goes out to SHINAGAMI VIRUS for inspiration to hurry up with these overdue posts. If you haven't read his story 'The Houkounin Saga' I advise you to go and read it! It's a great story; if you like Teen Titans and vampires together, then you've got to read this one. Please, give that story a lot of reviews it deserves it.

 **Midnight Melody**

Robin watched his friends drive away before turning to face the grinning vampire. It was disturbing seeing that grin, it was mocking and sinister…but it also hinted that he knew a secret.

"What's with you and grinning all the time?" Robin asked bluntly.

"I find many things amusing," Sin replied, widening his unnerving grin.

Robin crossed his arms and stared at the crazy vampire. "Am I going to act like you when I'm as old as you?" Robin asked worriedly.

Sin shrugged his shoulders. "That depends of how you're affected over the centuries."

"In what way?" Robin said, raising an eyebrow.

"For example, if you let your Beast control you too much, or if you dip into madness one too many time," Sin said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Is that what happened to you?" Robin asked.

Sin turned and walked away, saying, "You're a detective, you try to figure it out!"

Robin had to jog after him to keep up; Sin had longs legs and he was already ten feet away from Robin when he fell silent.

"Where are we going?" Robin called out as he hurried over to him.

"We're gonna go on a midnight stroll in the park, we'll have fewer interruptions there," Sin replied over his shoulder.

Silence fell again between them, and they walked for twenty minutes, until they came upon the park and Sin began walking toward it. Robin started talking again as the did, to break the uncomfortable silence and try and see if he could more some information out of the mysterious man.

"I've been around here many times, why haven't I noticed or heard of your club before?" Robin spoke up, now entering the park and followed the walkway leading through the park.

"Because it's closed during the day, you wouldn't have heard of it, because not many people know it exists," Sin replied.

"Then how come there were so many people at the club?" Robin inquired.

"I have my servants go out and tell only certain people about it," Sin said.

"Certain people?" Robin said, looking confused.

"Yes, there are people out there who want to go somewhere where they can be themselves. They want to escape their boring daily lives and try something…forbidden. My club was made for that sole purpose only. I made it so a person can feel free to be something they long for, but can't, because of their normal lives," Sin said.

"What made you do that?" Robin asked, curious that a creature like Sin would want a place like that for people.

"One, for the disguise to live in this so-called modern world. Second, because I've always wanted to have a place where a persons'…sins have no meaning," Sin said with a dark chuckle.

"So, you built a club for people to come to dance and dress differently. What's so different about it from other nightclubs?" Robin said.

"There is more that goes on in my club as you'll find out late," Sin said, grinning devilishly again.

"Can't wait!" Robin replied sarcastically.

They fell silent for the third time as they walked through the park. Thanks to the returned silence, Robin's senses began to notice everything around him. He heard the wind blowing in the trees. Thanks to his new senses, he could hear more than that. He could hear the squirrels running in the trees. He heard the sound of other people in the park, the soft giggles of couples, friends telling jokes and having good times. They weren't anywhere near him and Sin, but Robin could hear them clearly as though they were standing right next to him. His nose caught new scents he never noticed before, telling him things he never thought of before until now. He smelled the clear night air, which smelt almost sweet to him. He could smell the plants and animals they walked by, he even smelt car fumes floating up into the air from outside the park. His vampiric eyes looked up at the night sky, and he was awed by what he saw. The night sky bloomed with exotic colors, shades of black, purple, and blue danced and swirled around in a tapestry of beauty. The colors reminded Robin of Raven for some strange reason. Thinking of her brought on the image of her smiling face in his mind, making him smile slightly and remembering the feel of her body in his arms.

"Lovely night tonight, isn't it?" Sin stated amusedly, after he caught the smile on Robin's face.

Robin regained his thoughts and looked at Sin. "Y-Yes, it is! I've never noticed how beautiful the night sky really was," Robin said, looking back at the night sky.

"You will begin to notice many things you haven't before," Sin said with a smirk on his face, chuckling deeply.

"What's so funny?" Robin demanded irritably.

Sin raised his arms up and started dancing around Robin, like he was dancing with an invisible partner.

"Oh, nothing! I was just thinking how _happy_ you were when you danced with Raven," Sin said, pretending to dip someone and eyeing Robin amusedly.

Robin widened his eyes. "T-That was nothing more than a simple dance, i-it didn't mean anything!" Robin said nervously.

"Then why are you nervous all of a sudden?" Sin teased.

"I'm not nervous!" Robin said stubbornly.

"You can't hide anything from me, Robin. I know that little dance meant something more to you than you want to admit," Sin said with a devilish grin. _'Or realize…yet. Heh, heh!'_

"What are you getting at?!" Robin growled.

Sin shrugged his shoulders, giving Robin an innocent look. "I'm just saying, Robin, you're noticing Raven _differently_ , that's all," Sin said innocently, or as close as he could to sounding innocent.

"If you're implying I'm falling for Raven, then you're DEAD wrong!" Robin said heatedly.

Sin eyed Robin mockingly. "You're forgetting who you're talking to, my dark Boy Wonder. I'm already dead! _AHAHAHAHAH!_ " he laughed loudly.

Robin glared menacingly at the laughing Nosferatu, grumbling curses under his breath.

"Whatever the case is, you're wrong!" Robin hissed.

"Am I?" Sin mused. "You appeared to have enjoyed dancing with Raven tonight than you were with your _beloved_!"

"Hey! Stop mocking Starfire! She hasn't done anything to deserve it!" Robin said angrily.

"Oh no? If I remember correctly, and I should tell you I have a photographic memory. Your Starfire went to your friend Speedy for comfort, instead of you!" Sin said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"She's just confused right now! S-She needs time to get used to all of this!" Robin said, looking quite unsure with himself with his words.

"You keeping telling yourself that," Sin replied with dark chuckle.

"It's true!" Robin snapped at him.

They came across a lake by the walkway then. Sin walked off the path and headed for the lake. He reached the water's edge and sat down on the grass. He leaned on his left arm and rested his right one over his raised right knee. Robin followed him and sat next to him Indian-style.

Sin glanced at Robin, smiling wickedly when he said, "Believe what you want, Robin. But the truth is you already know the doubt lurking in her heart."

"I don't care, what you say! Starfire will always love me," Robin said.

"I never said she'd stop loving you, silly boy. You can't stop someone from loving you, but that doesn't mean they want to stay together forever, now does it?" Sin replied.

Robin growled in frustration and lied down on the grass. He crossed his arms behind his head, and he glanced up at the night sky. "You know, my life was perfect before you came along and changed it."

"Hah! Life is never perfect, Robin, you should know that! Something always comes along and changes it, if it wasn't me, then it would have been something else," Sin said.

Robin pondered his words and sighed deeply. "You're probably right. I guess things were too good to be true. I thought after we put H.I.V.E. away and when Slade disappeared I could actually have a normal life."

"You wore a red, yellow, and green costume and fought weird characters, and then you planned to marry an alien who likes to drink mustard! When exactly did you start thinking you could have a normal life?" Sin mocked.

"Shut up, not everyone grows up the same! No one can say what will happen to them in the future," Robin growled.

Sin gazed at the moonlit lake with a strange look in his eyes. "You're right. No one can ever know what tomorrow brings," Sin said with a hollowed voice.

Robin looked at the vampire next to him. He saw some kind of emotion in his crimson orbs, one he couldn't decipher. He then smiled evilly and reared his head back, laughing. Robin rolled his eyes at hearing that strange laughter and groaning annoyedly.

"You are one strange person," Robin commented dryly.

"That's putting it lightly!" Sin chuckled.

"So…what happens now?" Robin asked.

"You asked too many questions, if you want to talk about what's next. Then let us discuss your crime-fighting career," Sin said, sounding very bored.

"I'm not going to quit fighting crime," Robin stated flatly.

"I'm not gonna stop you. I said you could do whatever you desired when you accepted the gift. I only wish to inform you, you will only be able to do your crime-fighting at night," Sin said.

"I figured that much already…" Robin grumbled.

"Oh, really?" Sin replied sarcastically.

"Yeah! Really! Anything else, _Oh, mocking one_ , you wish to tell me," Robin said drolly.

"Yes, there is in fact, you will _NOT_ fight crime, until you've learned to control your new abilities," Sin said, grinning devilishly.

"What?! But you just said you wouldn't stop me!" Robin shouted.

"You are correct. I did say that, but without fully understanding your new self. Do you really trust your skills now?" Sin asked with a questionable tone.

Robin couldn't reply to that, he wasn't sure of himself anymore. Robin remained silent, staring up at the night sky expressionless.

"It's all right to be unsure, Robin. It helps show you're cautious," Sin said.

"Easy for you to say," Robin grumbled.

"You're right! It is easy for me to say! _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled. He got up off the grass and brushed the loose grass off his jacket and pants. "Don't get so stressed over it, Robin. I'll have you fighting again soon and once I'm done with you! No mortal will ever be your equal!" Sin said with a sadistic smile.

Robin got up and dusted himself off quickly. "Uh, Sin, I have one more question for you," Robin said.

"Ask away!" Sin said.

This question has been hounding him ever since he found out what Sin did to him. "Why were you at the warehouse, and why did you want to save me?" Robin asked in curiosity.

"I'd like to know that myself," an all too familiar cold and calm voice said.

Robin turned around to greet the familiar voice and glared with pure hatred. A man stepped out from the shadows onto the walkway. The man was none other than Slade. He stood on the walkway with his arms behind him and standing erect with total confidence in his pose.

"Slade!" Robin hissed.

"Hello, Robin. It's been far too long since last we've seen each other," Slade said in his usual arrogant tone.

"Not long enough!" Robin growled, getting into his fighting position.

"I'm hurt, Robin! After these short few years I thought you'd be glad to see me again," Slade mused.

"The only time I will ever be glad to see you is behind prison bars!" Robin retorted with a snarl.

"We'll see about that later. Now…I'd like to know, whoever you are, what exactly are you doing with my apprentice?" Slade asked coldly, glaring at Sin.

Sin inspected Slade like he would a vermin. His expression showed he wasn't impressed at all by Slade. In fact, he just yawned and glazed at him lazily. He chuckled wickedly as an evil smile split across his lazy expression so after.

"So, this is the infamous Slade, uh? Hmm, I was expecting you to be taller. To answer your question, Slade, put simply, none of your fucking business!" Sin said mockingly.

"You are quite wrong, my unfortunate friend. Robin belongs to me and no one else," Slade said coldly.

"Funny? I thought this was America, where everyone was their own person," Sin said with an amused smile.

"Not for long," Slade replied.

"What are you planning now, Slade!" Robin demanded.

"Robin, Robin, you should know by now I never tell you my plans, at least, not yet," Slade said.

"Whatever you're planning, Slade, you won't get away with it!" Robin vowed.

"I always get away with what I want. And right now…I want to get rid of your new friend!" Slade said, looking at Sin with hatred in his revealed eye.

"Oh good! I'm back in the conversation again! Just so you know, Slade. I'm no pushover, even with your toys, you'll have a hard time," Sin said, looking past Slade.

Robin quickly looked past Slade, too, and saw a couple of Slade's drones, readying to attack. Sin glanced at Robin with a strange light in his eyes.

"Robin, why don't you take care of those toys? I'd like to chat some more with Slade," Sin said with an evil smile.

Robin looked at Sin like he was crazy, which in a way was probably the case. He reached for his Bo Staff, until he remembered he took off his utility belt. Sin broke out in another wicked laughter. Slade found Robin's worried look amusing as well.

"Now, now. I can't believe you forget to bring your weapons with you. I see this laughing fool is teaching you bad habits," Slade said.

Sin started laughing harder, he was laughing so hard he was clutching his stomach. Slade regarded Sin's behavior with great distaste. He raised his hand for the drones to attack.

"Sin, this isn't a good time to be laughing!" Robin said, getting into a combat position.

"It's always a good time to laugh, my boy! You're forgetting what you are now!" Sin's eyes widened to show the madness glowing in his eyes." You don't need weapons to handle them, Robin. All you need are your bare hands!" Sin crackled, roaring with more laughter.

Robin gave Sin a blank look, and then he glanced at Slade and ran straight at him. Robin moved like he never moved before, he was so surprised by how fast he ran. Slade barely saw Robin come at him and jump over his head at the last moment. To say Slade was surprised at this would be an understatement, he was shocked beyond belief! He managed to follow where Robin landed and attack his drones. Robin dashed at the first and roundhouse kick at its head. The force of the kick knocked the drone's head right off its shoulders, sending it sailing through the air and smashing into another drone's chest. One drone tried to punch him, but to Robin, the punch seemed to be moving in slow motion. He easily dodged the blow and grabbed its wrist. He meant to throw the robot over him, but he forgot how strong he was now.

Robin had ripped its arm completely off, leaving him to stare at the dismembered arm in amazement. Then suddenly, a weird feeling came over him at that moment, a feeling he has never felt before. It filled him with overwhelming confidents and a need…the need to rip apart all these pathetic drones! Robin smirked evilly at the one armed robot and bashed its head in with its dismembered arm. He yanked it out of its crushed head, and he flung it at the nearest drone, impaling it in its abdomen. The drone tried to hit Robin, but he dodged them with ease, it was like everything around Robin was in slow motion now. Every time one of them tried to hit him, he'd rip their limbs off and beat them with it. He was feeling a strange satisfaction with destroying Slade's drones. Robin smirked and continued on with more vigor as this feeling pumped through his veins.

Slade stared in horror at Robin's display of brutality. He'd never seen Robin fight…so wild and carefree. Of all the times he has watched Robin fight, he fought with control and sureness. Now, he saw Robin was tearing through his drones like a wild animal. What surprised him more was Robin was doing it with impossible speed and grace, and a skill he never knew Robin possessed. He swiftly glared at Sin with pure hatred burning in his eye.

"What have you done to him!?" Slade demanded coldly.

Sin flashed him a fanged smile.

"I set him free, that's what I done to him! Heh, heh! I should thank you, Slade. I was worried this night would be uneventful for Robin. You provided something for him to release his pint up frustration," Sin said, bowing mockingly to Slade.

"You have ruined him!" Slade shouted angrily.

Sin glared at Slade evilly. "I have made him something you cannot possibly understand! He is far better than anything you could have ever trained him into," Sin replied, chuckling darkly.

"You will pay for this, you hear me! You-will-pay!" Slade said with a venomous voice and got into a fighting position.

Sin reared his head back and laughed psychotically. Slade roared a furious battle cry and rushed toward him. Sin took one step to the right as Slade came at him, letting Slade go by him. He tapped Slade's shoulder and raised his foot to trip him up, making him fall to the ground. Slade quickly rolled back to his feet and charged Sin again, throwing rapid strikes at him. Sin moved with the same grace as Robin. He easily dodged all of Slade's attacks, not letting him lay a finger on him.

Robin had finished up destroying the done. He dusted his hands and glanced where Sin and Slade were fighting. Slade still couldn't lay a single blow on Sin as he moved too quickly for him, and he seemed to know every move Slade was going to make. Slade was getting really mad now. He knew Sin was playing with him and it was a humiliation he wasn't going to stand for.

"Fight back! Or are you a coward?" Slade jeered, throwing another punch at Sin.

Sin gave Slade a disgusted look as he grabbed his wrist. "Don't insult me, human!" Sin hissed viciously.

Sin twisted Slade's arm in one quick motion, breaking it at the elbow. Slade let out a loud yell of pain as he cradled his broking arm. Sin grinned devilishly as he plunged his left hand into Slade's chest. At first, Robin expected to hear the sound of bones breaking and wet sloppy noise, but he didn't. Instead he heard metal snapping and wires short-circuiting.

"You're the coward, Slade! You have to use these pathetic toys to fight Robin and me," Sin sneered.

The mask on the Slade drone fell off and a mini-screen turned on, displaying the real Slade.

"I must say I've never encountered one such as you. I applaud your skill of beating my drone…but don't underestimate the decoy from the real thing. It probably would have been interesting fighting you for real, but I'm afraid you will never have that chance!" Slade said.

The screen switched to a clock, reading three seconds. Sin's slit eyes dilated.

"Shit," Sin cursed.

The clock reached zero and the Slade drone self-destructed. A huge explosion erupted from the drone. Robin had enough time to see Sin be enveloped by the flames before the force of the explosion threw him off his feet. Robin covered his face as the flames licked at him. He landed twenty feet from where he was standing and slowly got back up and scanned the area where the explosion was. The whole patch of ground was gone, leaving a huge hole in the ground. The trees around the hole were burnt and there weren't any signs of Sin.

Robin ran to the edge of the spot, shouting, "Sin! Sin, are you alright!?"

"Cowardly human! It figures he'd pull a dirty trick like that!" Robin heard Sin's voice speak up from behind.

Robin spun around to see a slightly singed Sin, dusting himself off.

"H-How did you get away in time?" said a baffled Robin.

Sin smirked at him. "A little trick I learned long ago," he replied, running a hand through his bangs. He walked over to Robin and patted him on the head. "I'll teach it to you when your powers grow."

"I hope you know some more tricks, because now you got Slade as an enemy. He's psychotic, Sin! He won't rest until you're dead and I'm his successor," Robin said.

"Humph! I've dealt with his type before. I know how to handle mad men. _Hehehehehe!_ Besides, at the moment he probably thinks I'm dead…well, deader! _AHAHAHA!_ That will make him overconfident," Sin inquired.

"Not for long," Robin said.

"It'll be long enough, Robin," Sin replied with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Long enough for what?" Robin asked worriedly.

Sin gave him a mischievous look. "Nothing you should concern yourself with, Robin," he replied.

' _I have a very bad feeling about this!'_ Robin thought.

Sin shrugged his shoulders. "You'll get that feeling a lot around me. Don't worry about it, Robin. It's normal, unhealthy, but normal for me! _AHAHAHAHA!"_ Sin laughed.

Robin placed his left hand over his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Why me?" Robin said depressively.

"Heh, Heh! It will be fine. Now, it's getting late, the sun will be rising soon, we'd better get back to your tower before we turn into crispy corpses! _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled.

"It's gonna be a long walk from here," Robin said.

"Not if you run!" Sin said, taking off in a sprint.

Robin quickly ran after Sin, amazed at how fast he and Sin were running. They ran through the city, jumping over a few surprised people. The speed they were running was unbelievable. Robin thought they could give the Flash a run for his money. The buildings around him became huge blurs. Sin ran a good few feet ahead of Robin. He'd glance over his shoulder to make sure Robin was still with him once or twice. He felt the first sensation of pride from seeing how well Robin was adapting to his new self. Of course, he didn't plan to tell or show Robin that…not yet, anyway. They soon reached the Tower under ten minutes flat. When Robin slowed down he didn't feel any fatigue, he felt like he could have ran all night still.

"I advise not trying that, Robin. It makes you need to drink blood more often," Sin said, walking into the Tower.

Robin gave the crazy vampire an irritated look and followed him through the front doors.

"Can you please stop doing that?" Robin said with a snarl.

"Doing what?" Sin asked with a knowing smile.

"Reading my mind all the time, that's what!" Robin shouted.

"I couldn't if I tried," Sin replied calmly.

"Huh? Why not?" Robin asked.

"You're my child, Robin. Until you have matured into a true Nosferatu there will always be a connection between us. I can block your thought, but I couldn't stop reading them," Sin answered offhandedly.

"How long does it take to become a _true_ Nosferatu?" Robin asked very annoyed with this fact.

"Depends on how well you adapt to being a child of darkness and how well your powers grow," Sin replied, sounding bored with the conversation.

"You didn't answer my question, Sin. How long will it take?" Robin pressed on.

"It takes as long as the young Nosferatu's power mature. If you train hard and listen well, Robin. You will mature in a year, but if you don't listen and are stubborn about it. You won't mature for quite some time. Now, will you desist with your questions for tonight, it's getting annoying!" Sin growled darkly.

Robin wanted to be rebellious and ask another question, but the look in Sin's eyes kept his mouth shut. They walked quietly up to the Tower to the living quarters and entered his room, it wasn't until then did Robin begin to feel tired. He instantly felt sluggish as he walked to his bed. All he could think about right then was getting into bed and not waking up till springtime. He barely got to his bed before he collapsed on the floor, face first with a loud thunk, and fell into a deep sleep. Sin chuckled and walked over to where Robin fell asleep. He picked him up and laid him on his bed. He took a minute to watch Robin's slumbering face with a small smile.

' _So…this is what it's like to have a child. It feels…it feels nice,'_ Sin thought.

He brushed a few stray hairs off Robin's face before he straightened himself. He looked around at everything in the shadowy room. He went over to the windows and closed the curtains. He wanted to make sure no sunlight could get in the room. Once he was sure Robin would be alright, he walked back to the bed, then stroked Robin's hair with a warm expression before he disappeared into a void of darkness.

At Slade's hideout, Slade was furious! He was pacing in his private chamber. Slade only used this room to rest and think. Right now he was evaluating the situation with Robin. It would take more planning to salvage the mess the laughing fool caused.

' _Everything is going wrong! My plans to get my apprentice back are crumbling in my grasp. All because of that stranger! My only regret was that I couldn't make him suffer. Oh, well, blowing him up in front of Robin will have to suffice,'_ Slade thought angrily.

As Slade paced in his room, he never noticed the shadows growing. They reached out and concealed everything they touched in darkness. The shadows slowly consumed all the light emitting from the ceiling lights. It wasn't until they blocked out all the light did Slade notice the change of atmosphere. He looked around to find everything in a veil of inky blackness. He felt something close to panic build up inside him, but years of training stopped him from letting his emotions rule him. Slade walked over to the light switch by the door. He moved around the room without hitting or bumping into anything, because he knew where everything was by memory. He flicked the light switch only one time.

Slade always made sure everything in his life worked accordingly; from his sinister plans down to his simple electronics. He knew the wiring wasn't damaged or the bulbs just blew out. He wouldn't tolerate such things in his life. Something was amiss, and he didn't like the feeling he was getting from being in total darkness. Suddenly, Slade felt he wasn't alone in the room anymore. He turned around to face where the presence was coming from and prepared himself. Who would dare come into his private chamber! How did they get past his iron-gripped security? He didn't know, but whoever it was just signed their own death warrant.

"Show yourself," Slade demanded in a pure venomous voice.

A pair of red eyes opened up in the darkness, followed by a Cheshire smile. All the teeth in the smile looked very sharp, a pair of long fangs glimmered in them. Slade didn't see any gums or anything else from the evil smile. It was as if the flesh of this thing was made of shadows. The teeth parted and an evil laughter erupted from them.

"Who, or whatever you are, will pay with your life for coming here," Slade said, unfazed by the wicked laughter ringing in his ears.

" _ **Oh, really? If I had a life I'd be worried. AHAHAHAHA!"**_ the creature snickered.

Slade didn't find anything amusing about what it said, except for one thing, it had a life! Slade raised his left arm, and a section of his armor opened up, revealing a small mounted laser gun. He aimed at what he considered its head and fired his laser and it hit right between the red eyes…but nothing happened. The laser vanished into the black void, leaving the creature laughing at Slade. Slade tried not to show it, but he was beginning to worry. He took a step back from the creature.

" _ **Thought it'd be easy, didn't you, Slade! It will take more than that pathetic laser…and that exploding toy of yours to kill me!"**_ the creature sneered.

Slade's revealed eye widened in disbelief. "You survived that?! It's impossible! The explosion should have been strong enough to take out anything within a thirty foot radius. You'd have to be super fast or tougher than steel to get away alive!" Slade surmised.

The creature laughed harder at Slade. _**"I'm a lot tougher than you think, Slade. You have no idea what I'm capable of,"**_ it hissed.

"Whatever you are, you will pay for ruining my apprentice! I don't know how you got past my security, but you won't leave here alive!" Slade threatened.

The creature's face moved up close to Slade's. _**"Here's where you have a problem. I'm already dead! AHAHAHAHAHA!"**_ it laughed wickedly.

Before Slade could back away from it something grabbed his neck. It lifted him off his feet and flung him backwards. He was slammed, hard, onto his wall, still being held at the throat by something. He started kicking at whatever was holding him, but his feet hit nothing but air. The creature brought its face up really close to Slade's again, grinning devilishly. The red light from his eyes reflected off Slade's mask, revealing the panic in his revealed eye.

"W-Who are you?!" Slade choked out.

" _ **My name is Sin, and you don't want to have anything to do with me, human! I am a force you have never tangled with. So, if you value your life, you will stay out of my affairs. Robin is mine now, he is my child. And like any appointed father I want him to be safe. You messed up your chance to have him, but now he's mine and there's nothing you can do about it! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**_ Sin crackled evilly.

Slade tried to grab Sin, but only swatted at air again, roaring with fury. "If what you say is true, then I will make sure you cannot have Robin!" Slade vowed.

" _ **Don't be ridiculous! You, a mere human? Thinks he can press his will against a Ruler of the Night! AHAHAHAHAHA! You have spirit, and normally, I'd kill someone like you…but I'd be denying Robin the pleasure. You see, Slade, Robin doesn't belong to you, you belong to Robin! Only he has the right to kill you properly, and when he understands this, Slade. You'd better run, because when Robin does come for you. You will wish for a quick and easy death!"**_ Sin tightened his hold on his throat, hearing a delightful gagging noise come out of Slade. _**Ironic, isn't, Slade? From having someone you had under your control. To only have that same person determine how long you live,"**_ Sin mused. He let go of Slade then, allowing him to breathe again. Slade gasped for air through his half crushed windpipe. As he regained his breath, the darkness began to fade away. _**"You have been warned, human. I advise to get as far away from Robin and me as fast as you can."**_

Sin's eyes and devilish smile vanished from the room, leaving behind an evil laughter, echoing in Slade's mind. Slade crawled to his knees, shaking one fist in fury. How dare this freak order him around, in his own chambers no less! Whatever a manner of creature Sin is, Slade vowed right then to make him pay. If Sin was right about Robin, then he'll make sure no one can have him, no one…

A veil of darkness rippled in Robin's room. Sin strolled out of it, smiling evilly. He walked over to Robin's bed and sat next to him.

"Slade is going to be troublesome, but not too much of a threat to us, Robin," Sin said to the slumbering Boy Wonder.

Sin sensed the first rays of dawn fill the sky outside the Tower. He looked around the room and shrugged.

"This will do for the day," he said to himself.

He removed his jacket and threw it on the table and laid down next to Robin, stretching his arms and yawning impossibly wide. Sin crossed his arms behind his head and rested his head in them.

Sin chuckled to himself, as he said, "What a fantastic night!"

Then he finally allowed himself to fall into a deep, restful slumber as the sun rose high into the sky, with a grin on his face.

A/N: Tell me what you think of this chapter, please! Thanks again for all the reviews. I hope to see more! Cya!


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, just Sin and this story.

A/N: To let everyone know. Yes, I do plan on continuing Teen Titans: Inferno, that's all I got to say. Enjoy this chapter and review it, please.

 **Troubling Thoughts**

The sun slowly rose up into the sky, basking the city in warm yellow light. The rays of the sun fell upon Titan Tower. The light shone through the window in Starfire's room. Its gentle rays glistened on her sleeping face. The redhead rolled over, trying to get away from the annoying light. She rolled over too far and fell right out of bed. She let out a yell as she hit the floor. She sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawning loudly.

She looked around her lazily and floated to her dresser. On top of the dresser were her brushes and make-up kits, waiting for her to use when needed. Above the dresser hung a mirror. Starfire stared at her reflection and sighed. She looked awful. Her hair was a tangled mess. Her eyes had bags under them, and her skin was a pale orange. She ran a hand through her hair, trying to untangle some of the knots. Starfire hated looking so messy. She always liked to keep a good hygiene of herself. The only time she'd ever get this bad was when she was stressed…and all last night she was stressed out! When she and the other Titans got back to the tower, all she could think about was what Robin had become. She tried to tell herself Robin hasn't changed…but something inside her kept telling her different.

Just being near Robin last night made her very nervous. She couldn't help it, but something about the new Robin scared her witless. Whenever he touched her sent trembling fear through her. She held herself as she remembered the feel of Robin's cold embrace. The warmth that once emitted from him was gone. She loved that warmth; it made her feel safe and loved. Now, that warmth was gone, replaced by this terrifying chill. She didn't feel safe in his arms anymore. The love was still there, but it felt different, almost hollowed. Starfire was about to start crying again…until Speedy popped in her head. Last night before she went to bed, Speedy checked on see if she was all right. She remembered dancing with Speedy. His arms were strong, but gentle at the same time. Starfire smiled warmly at the memory. The warmth of his arms was exactly like Robin's. Suddenly, her mouth dropped open as she stared at herself in shock.

' _No! NO! Speedy is not Robin, why am I thinking like this?'_ Starfire thought, biting a finger.

Starfire pushed the thoughts of Speedy out of her head. She decided taking a nice long shower would help ease her stress. She grabbed a clean out-fit and left her room. She walked to the bathroom quietly, so she didn't wake up everyone. Normally, she'd have flown down the hallway, but she didn't feel like flying this morning. The recent night's events gave her no feeling of joy that allowed her to fly. She entered the bathroom and got undressed and jumped into the shower. The hot water felt refreshing to her dry skin. She let the water pour on her face, feeling more relaxed as the water ran through her hair. She stayed in the shower close to an hour. When Starfire finished washing herself, she turned off the water and dried herself off. After putting on her clean out-fit, she went back to her room. There she started fixing her hair, brushing all the knots out.

Once Starfire had straightened out her hair, she put her brush down and picked up her make-kit. She put on a little cover-up to hide her baggy-looking eyes. She checked herself in her mirror one more time to make sure she was presentable. Feeling satisfied with herself, she left her room. She was beginning to feel hungry, so she made her way to the kitchen. She walked by Robin's room before she stopped. Out of habit, she check on Robin to see if he was okay and if he came back. She opened the door and stepped in with a smile on her face. She looked around the room, seeing it was in almost complete darkness. The light from the hallway gave her enough light to see the contents of the room. As she looked about, she felt an uncomfortable feeling. The room once held an atmosphere that welcomed her, but that too somehow changed. Now, the room felt cold and eerie.

" _It feels like Raven's room,'_ Starfire thought eerily.

She glanced at the bed and what saw made the smile on her face disappear. An expression of fear replaced her happy one just as she screamed and flew out of the room. The scream woke up everybody, except the sleeping vampires. Raven was the first to run out of her room. The empath looked down the hallway to find out what was going on. She spotted Starfire, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall from Robin's door, holding her knees and shaking slightly. Raven ran to her, followed by Cyborg, who just came out of his room. Soon, everyone came out of their rooms and huddled around Starfire.

"Starfire, what happened, why did you scream?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, Star, you screamed so loud, you could have woken up the dead," Beast Boy said, yawning loudly.

Starfire's eyes shot back to Robin's room, afraid she might have done just that. Raven followed the redhead's glance, and asked, "Star, is something wrong with Robin?"

"N-No, Robin is fine…I think, b-but _h-he's_ in there with him!" Starfire quivered, pointing a shaky hand at Robin's room.

Raven stared at Starfire with a puzzled look, and then she walked into Robin's room. She looked around and spotted the two sleeping Nosferatu. Everyone else followed in behind her, looking for what scared Starfire, then they saw Sin sleeping next to Robin. Cyborg walked over to the side where Sin spelt. He stared down at the Nosferatu, seeing the grin on his face.

"Damn! The guy is sleeping, and he still grinning," Cyborg grumbled.

"Yeah, I thought he was scary when he was awake, but he's still scary looking asleep," Beast Boy added, keeping a good distance from the bed.

Raven walked over to Robin's side, she saw a slight smile on his peaceful face. _'I guess they did something fun when we left,'_ she thought, an inch of a smile cracked her emotionless face.

"So…what do we do with them?" Beast Boy asked, looking at them a bit worriedly.

Raven's smile vanished, replaced with a snarl. "Do!? What do you mean, what do we do with them!" Raven snapped.

"Whoa, whoa! Take it easy, Raven. I just meant how do we cope with vampires?" Beast Boy said quickly, waving his hands in apology.

"They're called Nosferatu," Raven corrected.

"Whatever they're called, we need to figure out how to help Robin!" Cyborg yelled at them, he was frustrated with the whole thing, just as everyone else was. He looked at Robin with a concerned expression, not knowing what to do. All he wanted was to help out his best friend right now however he could.

Speedy walked up to Sin with an arrow in his hand. "We should get rid of Sin first while we have the chance," he said with a stern look.

"Hold on there, Speedy! We can't murder him! I don't like the guy either, but he did save Robin. He also doesn't strike me as an idiot. He wouldn't be sleeping here unless he knew he would be safe," Cyborg said.

"Murder? This thing is already dead! How can killing something that's already dead be considered murder?" Speedy replied angrily.

"Hey, dude. I'm with Cy on this, it doesn't feel right. I mean, Sin hasn't really done anything harmful to us," Beast Boy said.

"Are you kidding me? This thing drinks human blood, and he turned Robin into a vampire! You don't call that harmful!?" Speedy shouted, glaring at Sin.

"I don't care what he is! If he was a threat to us, he'd have taken Robin away from us forever like Slade tried to do, but he didn't. He seems to want Robin to stay with us for whatever reason. Plus, he is Robin's only chance at learning how to deal with what he is now. So, unless you know how to teach a vampire, then I'm all ears, if not, then leave Sin alone," Raven hissed, crossing her arms and glaring at the archer.

And they all thought Sin was scary. The look in Raven's eyes made Speedy cringe from fright.

"W-We got to do something," Speedy protested.

"Yes, but we're not going to do anything to Sin. And even if we did, you think plunging that arrow in his heart will kill him?" Raven said skeptically.

Hot Spot walked up to the bed, igniting both his arms. "Fire usually does the trick," he said.

"Yeah, only one problem with that," Beast Boy said.

"What?" Hot Spot asked.

"If you burn Sin now, you'll burn up Robin, too!" Beast Boy pointed out.

"Oh…" Hot Spot said, extinguishing his arms.

"Would that actually be a bad thing?" Starfire whispered.

Everyone looked and stared at her in total shock.

"Starfire!" Raven almost shouted.

Starfire turned her head away from them. "I'm sorry! I did not mean to say that. I just, I just…" Starfire covered her face as she began crying. She quickly ran out of the room.

"Starfire!" Speedy said, running after her.

Raven was shocked more than the others. The one person she had considered her best friend, just admitted she didn't care if her boyfriend was fried. Raven knew she didn't care at that moment, because she read Starfire's mind. Raven didn't mean to do it. She always respected her friend's privacy, but Starfire's thoughts shot out to her. She couldn't help but hear what Starfire was thinking. Raven sensed the fear and doubt Sin told her about of what Robin is now, building up inside her friend. Raven didn't want to believe the vampire…but now, she knew he was right about his assumption. The empath glanced back to Robin with sorrowful eyes, but only for a second. She had to regain her emotionless composure in order to think clearly.

' _This doesn't make any sense! Everything was going fine, until Sin showed up. Now, the feelings I thought I suppressed for Robin are flaring back up again. Starfire is afraid of Robin and Speedy is acting strangely. What else can go wrong!'_ Raven thought.

"With the way things are right now. I think we better decide who the new leader should be," Cyborg said.

Raven started rubbing her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. _'I just had to think that, didn't I?'_

"Huh? Cy, why do we have to pick a new leader?" Beast Boy asked.

"Because what's good to have a leader we have right now, who sleeps during the day?" Cyborg replied.

"I guess you're right, Cy, but let's wait till Robin wakes up. I think he has the right to choose who the new leader should be," Beast Boy said.

Raven looked at the changeling. "That is the most considerate and smartest thing you've ever said," Raven said a bit warmly.

Beast Boy's cheeks redden slightly, as he rubbed his neck.

"Heh…I have my moments," he said bashfully.

"Alright, alright! Warm and fuzzes all around, but let's let these two get their rest," Cyborg said, grabbing the collar of Beast Boy's shirt and dragging him out of the room, followed by Hot Spot and Wildebeest.

When they all left the room, Raven allowed herself a small smile. She glanced back to the bed, studying the way they slept. Their chest's never moved to show they were breathing. Neither made a move as they rested on the bed, but for some strange reason, Raven sensed some trace of life in them. What was stranger for was she just realized she protected Sin. She knew Sin had a dark soul, that was plainly clear…but something about him felt familiar to her. Like a friend or loved one that was lost to her, but now has returned. Raven shook that last thought out of her head and left the room.

"What's wrong with me?" she sighed deeply. _'I need to mediate to clear my head,'_ Raven thought.

Just as she shut the door, the grin on Sin's face widened into a wicked smile.

Out in the hallway, right before everyone left Robin's room. Starfire ran to her room, crying all the way. She went into her room and shut the door behind her. She leaned against the door, trying to think about why she didn't care what Hot Spot could do to Robin. None of it made sense to her, what was going on with her? She floated over to her bed and fell on the edge of it, weeping in her arms. A soft knock soon came from her door. Starfire jerked her head up and looked at her door.

She wiped her tears away, and said with a raspy voice, "Y-Yes?"

"Uh, Starfire, it's me, Speedy. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Speedy asked, ready for her to tell him to go away, but he didn't hear that.

"Please, wait one moment, Speedy!" Starfire said. She quickly floated over to her door. She took a minute to calm down and dry her eyes. After that was done, she opened the door slightly. "Yes?" she said gently.

"Umm…I-I just thought you might need some company?" Speedy replied shyly.

Starfire looked away for a second, thinking if she wanted any company. It was Speedy after all, and he's been treating her kindly since this whole ordeal started. She made up her mind and opened the door all the way.

"You may enter," Starfire said softly. She stepped to the side, allowing Speedy to come in.

Speedy walked into the room, being instantly surrounded by the color of pink and stuffed animals. _'Fits her personality,'_ Speedy thought amusedly.

Starfire closed the door once Speedy was in. She walked back to her bed and sat down on the edge of it, looking very depressed. Speedy noticed her mood, he strolled up to her, smiling pleasantly.

"Hey, now! I thought Raven was supposed to be the depressive one. Come on, Star, let's see a bit of sunshine we all know and love!" Speedy said.

Starfire giggled lightly and rewarded him with a small smile.

"There you go, that's more like it!' Speedy said, sitting next to her.

"Thank you, Speedy," Starfire said.

"For what?" Speedy asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For being a friend and understanding how hard this has been for me," Starfire replied warmly.

"You're welcome," Speedy said with a broad smile.

Starfire rested a hand on his right shoulder. The sudden warmth from her hand almost made Speedy jump. Catching himself in time, he looked at the hand, then up to see Starfire smiling warmly to him. A strange feeling grabbed Speedy's heart. It made him light-headed and unsure of himself. At that moment, he understood why Robin loved his alien girl so much.

" _He is the luckiest guy on this planet!'_ Speedy thought with envy.

"What are you thinking about?" Starfire asked.

"Uh, Ur, n-nothing, Star! Wait…that's not true. I was thinking about what you said back there. Why did you say that?" Speedy wondered.

Starfire looked at the floor for a good solid minute. She couldn't think of a good excuse to tell him, let alone telling him a lie. She never like to lie, it wasn't in her nature. She finally gave up trying to think of an excuse and decided to tell him the truth.

"I must concede with someone, Speedy, it might as well be you. What Robin has become frightens me to no end. I know he is still the old Robin…in a way, but something inside me keeps saying he isn't anymore. I'm even more afraid of Sin. When I looked at him I see an evil creature that will do anything without remorse. Every time I look at Robin's eyes now I see Sin's. I feel in time, Robin will become an evil being like Sin. I can't help these terrible thoughts, Speedy!" Starfire said, leaning on him, hugging him around his neck and crying again. "I just want my old Robin back, but I fear that wish will never come true! The love I once felt for Robin is fading from my heart. I cannot deny it anymore, Speedy!"

Speedy felt lost, on one hand, he knew he could tell her everything will work out, but on the other. A part of him told him this was his chance to take Robin's place in her heart. Speedy mentally hit that part of him for thinking such a thing.

Instead of trying either, he said, "Don't you think you're getting a little carried away?"

Starfire looked at him with watery, confused eyes. "W-What do you mean?" she pondered.

"I mean, Star, isn't it a bit early to be making hasty decisions about someone. I don't blame you for being scared. Shit, we all are! I don't trust Sin at all...but he did save Robin, in his own twisted way. I think you need to give Robin and yourself some time before you decide you don't love him anymore. Robin is a great guy, one in a million to have! You're lucky to have such a guy like him. So, forget your doubts and give it some time," Speedy said.

Starfire looked into Speedy's eyes, or at least his mask, and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you, Speedy. You have helped me tremendously. I can't thank you enough!" Starfire said happily.

Speedy rubbed the spot Starfire had kissed him, not believing she just did. "Uh? Well, that kiss was thanks enough," he said, blushing slightly.

Starfire's face reddened madly and she let go of Speedy's neck quickly. The two looked at each other in awkward silence, trying to figure out what to do next. Feeling very silly and unsure of himself, Speedy got up and headed for the door.

He turned around before he opened the door, and said, "You know, I think Robin's the lucky one to have someone like you." Before Starfire could reply, Speedy opened the door and stepped out.

He walked down the hallway, reaching the stairway. He stopped by the stairs and leaned against the wall, shaking his head from side to side very slowly. _'I could have made Starfire break up with Robin, then I'd have had a shot...no. it wouldn't be right. I can't come in between them; it just wouldn't be fair for either of them.'_ Speedy took a deep breath and sighed. _'I wish I had met Star before she met Robin. Maybe then I'd of had a chance…'_ Speedy thought.

A bone-chilling feeling swept through Speedy. He looked around, thinking maybe a window was opened somewhere. Then he remembered it was supposed to be a warm, sunny day. He stared down the hallway at Robin door.

' _I must be getting paranoid!'_ Speedy thought.

He walked down the stairs, trying to ignore the chilling cold. He never noticed a pair of red eyes staring at him from his own shadow. The eyes blinked out of existence, leaving an evil chuckle, which make Speedy go faster down the stairs.

The rest of the day went by pretty peaceful for the Titans. Starfire no longer acted like a nervous wreck. She appeared to be her old self again. Raven spent most of the day mediating. The boys all played video games. They all acted like it was an ordinary day…that is, until dusk approached. Everyone then began to feel a little nervous, knowing their resident vampires would be waking up soon, all except for Raven. She always acted like nothing bothered her. She hid it well, because deep down, she was anxious to talk to Sin. There were still some unanswered questions she needed the strange Nosferatu to answer for her.

It was when the last rays of the sun disappeared that Robin began to move around. He started rolling around in bed and mumbling. He sensed a body in bed with him as he moved around. On instinct, he wrapped his arms around the body. He nuzzled his face on who he thought in his sleepy state was Starfire's chest.

"Mmm…You feel comfy, sweetheart," he said sleepily.

"Why, Robin, I didn't know you cared!" he heard a deep, snickering voice say.

Robin opened his eyes wide and looked up to stared right into Sin's grinning face.

"Hi!" Sin said, widening his grin.

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ "

A/N: You guys know the drill! Please review and tell me what ya all think.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I really hate doing this, but just so no one gets on my case. I don't own Teen Titans, just this story and Sin.

 **Twilight Rhapsody**

" _AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_ " Robin's scream rang throughout the Tower.

All the Titans rushed to Robin's room, expecting the worst. Cyborg rammed the door down when he stormed into the room, charging up his sonic cannon. He scanned the room with his cybernetic eye set on night vision. He saw Robin on the floor, next to his bed, glaring at Sin, who was rolling on the bed with laughter. Cyborg blinked a few times, confused by what was going on.

Beast Boy ran into the bedroom. "Yo, Robin! What was the screaming all about?"

"Oh, nothing, Beast Boy! We just found out something important!" Sin replied, trying to stop laughing.

"What might that be?" Cyborg asked with an annoyed look.

"That Robin is a screamer in bed! _AHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin said, rolling with laughter again at his own joke.

"Ha…ha! We all get it, now will you stop laughing at my expense!" Robin grunted.

Sin stopped laughing and smirked at the Boy Wonder as he got off the bed. Everyone else had stormed into the room and were asking what was the matter, until Cyborg explained what he could to them.

While they were talking, Sin walked over to Raven, flashing her a fanged smile. "Good evening, Raven."

"Uh, evening?" Raven said, eyeing the Nosferatu awkwardly.

He glanced at the others, eyeing each one evilly. Then his eyes landed on Starfire, and his smile widened more. Starfire gulped and took a step back from him, but she managed to catch herself and fight off her fear and took two steps forward. Sin raised an eyebrow as he walked by bowing his head to her.

"There's hope for you yet…but next time try to keep your hands from shaking," Sin commented, chuckling lightly. Starfire immediately hid her shaking hands behind her. Sin walked up to Robin and gazed at him amusedly. "Are you going to sit there and waste the evening? Or are you going to get up and get down to business?" Sin asked with a smirk, exposing and waving his left wrist in front of Robin's face.

Robin growled at him, but his eyes followed where his wrist went. Sin turned his head to the others. "Unless you like to see Robin's new eating habits, you all might want to leave."

Beast Boy's face twisted in horror as he ran out of the room; he hated the sight of blood. The others quickly left the room, except Raven. She stood right where she was, she didn't budge an inch when the others left, and Sin noticed this and glanced at her amusedly.

"It is best if you leave, too, Raven. Robin is still new to this and having a living source of blood nearby as he drinks might make him a…little wild!" Sin purred darkly.

"I doubt you will let him get out of hand," Raven retorted.

Sin shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself."

"Uh, Raven? I-I don't want you to see this. Last time I kinda acted like a…umm?" Robin tried to figure out the best way to describe it to her.

"Like a bloodthirsty, raving animal!" Sin finished for him.

Robin glared at Sin. "Yeah…something like that."

"Then you'll just have to control it, that's all," Raven stated emotionlessly.

Sin glanced back at Robin.

"Might as well get it over with, Robin. The lady isn't going to leave," Sin said.

To help Robin make up his mind, Sin ran a sharp looking fingernail along his exposed wrist. A red line of blood appeared, taunting the young Nosferatu's hunger. Robin didn't want to admit it, but he was looking forward to drinking Sin's blood again. Without hesitation, he sank his fang hard on the wrist. His hesitation of not drinking blood in front of Raven quickly vanished. Now that he was drinking the blood, he didn't care if the others saw him now; all he cared for was the delicious blood pouring down his parched throat.

Sin chuckled evilly as Robin feasted on him. He looked at Raven out of the corner of his eye. He saw her face was somewhat horrified, but at the same time, she strangely looked fascinated.

Sin took her expression under great consideration.

' _She's curious! She wanted to see Robin's reaction to drinking blood. Hmm, she is a strange one, but very refreshing to see in a mortal,'_ Sin thought pleasingly.

Robin drank greedily at first. He bit down hard to get more of the blood to come out. After a minute, Robin managed to push himself away from Sin on his own with success. He sat there on the floor, rolling his tongue over his bloodied lips to taste a little bit more of the delicious fluid. Doing that, he slowly stood up, feeling completely revitalized. Raven stared with odd wonder at the Boy Wonder. Robin turned his attention to the empath when he sensed her staring at him. He was still feeling the need for blood as he glanced at his dark teammate. His vampiric eyes could see all the veins pumping blood through her. His Beast tried to make him go after her, but Robin's will kept it in place. Sin smirked at his show of self-control, very pleased with him.

' _He's a fast learner. Good, very good! Already he has learned to keep his beast at bay. Heh, heh…I wouldn't have expected anything less from him,'_ Sin thought admirably.

Sin walked over and grabbed his jacket off the table. The wound on his wrist healed before he stuck his arms in the sleeves. After he pulled his hair out from his jacket, he said, "Let's not keep everyone waiting. I'm sure they all have something they'd like to discuss with you, Robin." He proceeded to the door, winking at Raven as he walked by her.

Robin wiped the last bit of blood off his lips and walked up to Raven. "Uh…ahem, d-did everything go fine today?" Robin asked.

Raven thought about telling Robin what occurred earlier today, but she didn't want Robin to find out. That would tear him up more, and she didn't want to be the one to tell him. "Nothing happened, Robin. There wasn't any kind of disturbance in the city," Raven said, walking to the door. She turned to face him and taped her chin. "You missed a spot."

Robin quickly wiped the spot he missed with his sleeve, then followed her out of his room and they walked silently to the common room. He didn't like the unsettling silence between him and Raven, not since last night when she actually showed her emotional side.

"Raven, about last night, I'm sor—," he was cut off by Raven.

"There is nothing to be sorry about, Robin. Let's hurry, Starfire is waiting for you," Raven said in her monotone voice, not even looking at him when she spoke.

Robin stepped in front of her, but he did it a little too quickly for her to realize he moved. She slammed right into him and would have fallen, if Robin hadn't caught her at the last second. He helped balance her back on her feet, but he didn't let go of her.

"Uh, sorry, Raven," Robin apologized quickly.

Raven glared at him a second, but then she turned her head away from him, sighing.

"Raven, what is the matter? You've never acted like this before," Robin said with concern.

Raven placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed herself away from him.

"I'm-I'm confused right now, Robin. All that has occurred lately has affected us all, even I'm no exception," Raven admitted.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Robin asked.

Raven walked by Robin and touched his shoulder affectionately. "No, Robin, this is something I have to deal with in my own way."

"All right, but if you need any help I'm always here," Robin offered.

A small smile appeared on her expressionless face. "Thank you, Robin," she said softly. She let go of his shoulder and they continued to the common room. When they arrived there, they saw everyone standing and talking. Surprisingly enough, Starfire was talking to Sin.

"Did you rest well, Sin?" Starfire asked.

"Yes, I did…but in my rest I felt things warming up a bit. Did anyone check on us while we were sleeping?" Sin replied with a devilish grin.

"Uh? Ur…y-yes, I wanted to check on Robin, so I came in to make sure he was well," Starfire said nervously.

"Really? I imagine it must have been a bit of a shock for you to see me sleeping with Robin. Heh, heh!" Sin chuckled.

Starfire gulped loudly, nodding her head slightly. "I-It was!" she stuttered.

"Just to reassure you, Starfire. Robin didn't try anything last night in bed!" Sin snickered.

"Try what?" Starfire asked, looking at Sin with a confused expression.

Sin folded his arms and rested his chin in his right hand. "It must be a wonderful place in the little world you live in?" Sin mused.

"Umm, if you mean my home planet, Tamaran? Then, yes! It is a wonderful place, but it isn't little at all," Starfire said.

Sin chuckled amusedly and walked over to Robin. "Robin, you lucky dog! However did you get such a bright girl like her? Ha, ha, ha!" Sin laughed.

"Shut up!" Robin snapped. He stalked past Sin and sat on the couch.

Cyborg came over to Robin, about to tell him what they discussed earlier, but Robin accidentally read his thoughts. He knew Cyborg was going to ask him to pick a new leader. He sighed heavily and looked right at Cyborg before he said a word.

"Alright, Cy, let's pick out the new leader," Robin said depressively.

"How did you—?" Cyborg started to say.

Robin tapped his head. "I can read minds now, Cy."

"Oh…then I hope you understand why, Robin," Cyborg said.

"I do…now who do you have in mind?" Robin said, getting down to business.

"My first choice was Aqualad, but he's too hard to get a hold of," Cyborg replied.

"How about Speedy? He's almost exactly like Robin in every way," Beast Boy suggested.

"Me? Guys, I appreciate the confidence, but I'm not leader material," Speedy said.

"You never know until you try," Raven stated.

"I can't be the leader! I'm not sure I can handle that kind of responsibility…" Speedy said.

"Not all the time, at least," Sin spoke up.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Speedy asked with a sneer.

"Robin has and still is your leader, but at the moment, he needs to adjust. He can still be your leader at night while you can during the day. I need to train up Robin for now, so you, or whoever you chose, can lead till then," Sin advised.

"Sounds all right with me," Beast Boy said.

"What do you think, Raven?" Starfire asked.

"What Sin said sounds logical, but only if everyone agrees," Raven said emotionlessly.

"Hell, if Raven's okay with it, then I'm willing to give it a try!" Cyborg said.

"I guess its unanimous then. Speedy, you're the new leader of the Titans for now," Robin said. He sat up and walked over to Speedy, reaching out his right hand for Speedy to shake.

Speedy gave in. "Fine, I'll give it a shot!" Speedy agreed, accepting Robin's hand and shaking it.

"Hah, hah! Excellent, now that that's settled, Robin and I can get to work," Sin said.

"Work?" Robin uttered.

"Yes, work, the opposite of fun. Now unless you don't want to begin training tonight, then you won't be able to do any crime-fighting for a long time," Sin said, smirking at Robin.

Robin cracked his knuckles. "In that case, let's get cracking!"

" _AHAHAHHA!_ That's the spirit!" Sin exclaimed. The laughing vampire headed for the exit, gesturing for Robin to follow him. He turned to everyone before leaving. "If you need us, we will be in your training room."

"Night, guys," Robin said, waving to them and following Sin out to the training room.

Beast Boy yawned and waved lazily to everyone. "Since that's over with now, I'm going to bed early. I didn't get enough sleep last night. Night, dudes," the changeling said, leaving the living room.

"I think BB's got the right idea, I'm gonna get to bed, too. Night," Cyborg said, heading off to his room to recharge his batteries and hopefully get a good night's rest.

Hot Spot and Wildebeest went back to playing video games. Raven sat back at her spot and reopened the book she began reading last night. Seeing how everyone was going off to do their usual things, Speedy thought now was a good time to hang with a certain redhead.

"Hey, Star!" Speedy called out to her.

"Yes?" Starfire asked.

"U-umm…w-would you like to go see a movie or something with me?" Speedy asked nervously.

"That would be marvelous! I'd be happy to go to the place of sticky floors and large white screens with you!" Starfire replied happily.

Speedy smiled at his luck and he and Starfire quickly left the tower and hurried to the cinema.

In the training room, Robin was stretching out his muscles, getting himself ready for whatever Sin might have planned for him.

"Alright, Robin. As you already know, you are five times stronger and faster than you were before. Your senses have also increased, allowing you to be more aware of your surroundings. Tonight, we are going to work on control of your heighten abilities," Sin informed, removing his jacket and tossing it to the side.

Robin took a moment to study Sin's actual frame, He surprisingly looked taller without the jacket and slightly lithe, but he could see that his body was very toned and looked as hard as white, polished marble. No doubt he was quite a fighter before he was turned into a vampire, if this was how he looked before he was changed. He watched Sin as he stretched out only his arms, then he got into a fighting position he never saw before. Sin crutched slightly at the knees, standing sideways with his right shoulder pointing at him. He raised his arms up halfway, and then he spread out his fingers, making them curl slightly inward, revealing his sharp looking fingernails.

"Prepare yourself, Robin. Clear your mind of all distractions as you would training under your old mentor, but instead of just keeping your mind clear, have it concentrate on how your body moves. Feel out with your mind and senses, let them wrap around you like a blanket and let them guide you," Sin instructed.

Robin did as Sin told him and took a minute to totally clear all thoughts from his mind and focused on his body like how Sin explained. Once he was sure he was ready, he got into a fighting position.

"Ready?" Sin asked.

Robin nodded his head and came at Sin. He kicked at what he thought was an opening in his stance, but Sin smirked and swatted the kick away easily with his right hand. Robin threw a punch at his face, and Sin blocked it with his left palm, catching and holding his hand in it.

"Control, Robin, control!" Sin barked, pushing Robin away. "If you had punched a normal human with that much strength, you'd have smashed their heads in. Normally, it would be wise when facing strong opponents, but we can't have the city become suspicious if you kill every criminal with one punch," Sin warned."

Robin concentrated harder on not putting so much strength in his attacks. The two sparred like this for a good three hours. Robin quickly learned to control his heightened abilities, after which, Sin began to teach Robin how to use his new strength and speed on more powerful opponents. Every now and then, Sin would attack Robin, seeing how well Robin managed to block him. He did well, but a few of his hits struck Robin, sending him falling to the ground. His blows felt like being hit by a sledgehammer to Robin, but he shook them off and got back up and faced him again.

Once Sin was sure Robin could handle his strength, he made them speed up their attacks. Sin even taught Robin a few new techniques as they trained like this. Most of them consisted of using the opponent's strength against them. Robin got bold and dashed under Sin, planning to get behind him and super kick him in the back. But before Robin got back on his feet, Sin had jumped up and flipped around to land on the ceiling, and he stayed there. Surprised by what he was seeing, Robin fumbled with his momentum and slipped on his own feet. He hit the floor, hard, on his face. Robin yipped out in pain and rolled over, rubbing his sore nose, glaring up at Sin angrily.

"You cheated!" Robin accused.

"Hah! The laws of man and nature have no meaning to us, Robin. If you're so mad that I cheated, then come up here and knock me down!" Sin jeered, flashing him a mocking smile.

In frustration, Robin got back on his feet and jumped at Sin. The older vampire moved out of Robin's way as his hands grabbed the ceiling, and he found them sticking to it. He stared in amazement at what he was doing, awed by the odd sensation. He dangled there for a minute, wondering how he was doing it. Sin strolled up to Robin, looking at him proudly.

"You are doing well, Robin! You're a born natural at this!" Sin said approvingly.

"How am I doing this?" Robin asked.

"Another ability we have it the capability to cling to walls and ceilings. To put it more simply, you can walk on walls and ceilings much like you do on the ground," Sin explained.

Robin swung his legs and his feet made contact with the ceiling. He cautiously pulled his hands away and stood up, or down as the case may be. He laughed a little at what he was doing and walking around in circles on the roof.

"This is so cool!" Robin said excitedly.

"It is, isn't it? This is only a tip of the iceberg, Robin. We have more abilities that will make this look like child's play," Sin said.

"If that's true, then I can't wait to learn more!" Robin said.

Sin laughed. "All in due time, but for tonight we will stop here for tonight," Sin said, flipping back down to the ground.

Robin did the same and flipped off the ceiling. Sin retrieved his jacket and put it back on.

"You are performing excellent, Robin. At this rate I think you will be able to handle yourself in a few weeks," Sin said.

"A few weeks?!" Robin exclaimed.

"What, you thought this would take only a few days? You're doing well, but you still need more training before you can go off and be the hero again," Sin informed him.

Robin sighed deeply and ran a hand through his spiky hair. Sin grinned devilishly at him and chuckled wickedly.

"Now, now, Robin. It takes time to adjust to being a Nosferatu; we will continue our training tomorrow night. I must leave to feed and check my affairs," Sin said.

"Okay, Sin, see you tomorrow night," Robin said, waving good bye to him.

Sin disappeared in a veil of darkness. "Good night, Robin," Sin's voice carried out in the air.

Robin left the training room and went to the bathroom. His workout with Sin made him all sweaty, which he was surprised yet again by. He figured vampires couldn't sweat since they only drank blood. He'd have to ask Sin to explain what his body can still do tomorrow night. For now, he decided to not worry about it when he came to his room to get some clean clothes. He then went to the bathroom and started a nice hot shower. After his shower, Robin dried himself off, and then he put on a clean red shirt with a black R in the middle and black jeans. He went to the common room to see if anyone was still up, but highly doubted it, seeing how late it was. He entered the common room and glanced at the clock, it was 12:30am.

He definitely thought that no one would still be up, until he saw Raven sitting on the couch reading her book. He walked over quietly as so not to disturb her, but when he approached the couch, he glanced over her shoulder.

"Whatcha reading, Raven?" Robin asked.

Raven jumped off the couch, dropping her book, and screaming in fright. She didn't sense or hear him come in. Having him talk right in her ear made her heart jump into her throat.

"Robin?! Don't you ever sneak up on me like that again, or I swear, I'll blast you through a wall!" Raven threatened, glaring daggers at him.

"Sorry, Raven. I didn't want to disturb you, but I was curious about the book you were reading," Robin said.

"Curiosity killed the cat, you know?" Raven said.

Robin raised an eyebrow. "It's a bit late for that, don't you think?"

"Oh…yeah. Uh, sorry, Robin," Raven said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"It's cool, Raven. I'm actually getting used to this," Robin said, jumping onto the couch gracefully next to her. He leaned down to the floor and picked up her book and smirked when he read the title: Raven was reading Dracula.

"Good choice, Raven, this is one of my favorites," Robin said, handing the book back to her.

Raven took the book back eagerly and cradled it in her arms. She looked very embarrassed for being caught reading it, then she looked at Robin curiously.

"You like to read?" Raven asked, a bit surprised. She knew he probably had read, but she was oddly anxious to see if he liked to read.

"Yes, I like to read. Before I go to sleep, I'd read a book to help calm my nerves…Or I used to when I was…" Robin looked away from her.

Raven sat down next to him. "I understand…"

He glanced out of the corner of his eye. "Do you?"

She quickly changed the subject. "Yeah, so what kind of books do you often read?"

"I've read most of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Mostly, I like to read any mystery story I can find, but truthfully, I like to read some dark stuff. Like Stephan King or Edgar Allen Poe," Robin replied.

Raven shot her head up to him. "You like Edgar Allen Poe? He is my favorite author!"

This opened up a large discussion between the two. They questioned each other their post of views of the dark author. Followed by other books they've read. Raven asked quite a few questions and was happy to find Robin could easily answer them all, but was amazed by his answers. It turned out Robin had quite a few ideas of the books Raven never even thought of before. She also was astonished by how close her and his taste in books ran so close. As they talked, she didn't realize how open she was being with Robin, until they stopped talking after three hours. Robin glanced at the clock, seeing how long they have been talking.

"It's getting late. Maybe you should get to bed," Robin said.

"Not yet…" Raven said. "I'm not sleepy right now. Umm…You want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," Robin said.

Raven got up, and without thinking, put in one of her horror movies. Raven sat back down on the couch, turning on the DVD player and started the movie with the remote. As they watched the movie, Raven kept expecting Robin to get scared from some of the scary scenes. But he wasn't. He appeared to be enjoying the movie, which he was. A few times, she could have sworn she saw him licking his lips at some of the gory scenes.

Halfway through the movie, Robin stretched out his arms and laid them along the backrest of the couch, one arm behind Raven. Unconsciously, she inched closer to him. He felt her movement and didn't know what to make of it. But something egged him to make a bold move by moving a little closer to her. She rested slightly on his frame, now. Robin didn't dare move a muscle, oddly enough, he was enjoying having her this close to him. Near the end of the movie, sleep had crept up on Raven, laying her head on his shoulder.

Robin was finding this closeness very relaxing, the warmth from her body made him feel so at peace. His body was almost eager to receive this warmth, but not for her blood, but just for having her being next to her. In response, he wrapped his arm around her gently enough to keep from disturbing her sleep. When the movie ended, he saw she was still asleep. He picked up the remote and turned the movie and DVD player off, and gently picked her up off the couch, with his new strength, she felt light as a feather to him. He carried her quietly to her room, then placed her in her bed, pulling the sheets over her. Something complied him to sit on the edge of the bed. He sat there watching her sleeping expression. She looked so relaxed when she slept to him, so serene. Her normal emotionless face was replaced by a soft, gentle one that he'd never seen on her face as she slumbered on.

' _She looks so beautiful when she's asleep,'_ Robin thought.

His eyes slid down from her face to her delicate neck. As soon as he realized this, he tried to look away, but his eyes wouldn't leaver her neck. He leaned his face an inch from her neck, seemingly enthralled with every detail from her throat down to where the neck met her shoulders. The urge to bite down on her neck was strong and to find out what her blood might taste like. And this worried him, because it wasn't his Beast egging him on. He felt himself wanting to taste her delicious red liquid. He bit down on his bottom lip, careful not to let his fangs puncture it. His urge to drink from Raven was getting stronger.

' _I need to leave before this gets out of hand!'_ Robin said in his mind.

But before he moved, he brushed his lips on her neck, inhaling the scent of lavender and white lilies. The feel of her warm skin against his cold lips sent a thrilling sensation through him. It would have been so simple to just bite down and drink her blood, but that thought made him decide he really needed to leave, for Raven's safety. He got off the bed and quickly left the room, not looking back.

What he didn't notice was as he shut the door, Raven opened her eyes. She had been asleep for a while, until she felt herself being carried to her room by powerful arms. She pretended to still be asleep, only because she was enjoying being so close to him. What she didn't expect was for Robin to nearly bite her. She touched the spot where he brushed his lips on her. She almost had panicked when his lips touched her neck, but she didn't dare more; for fear that she might have made Robin bite her. When she felt his warm breath and his lips on her neck, she feared he was really going to bite her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to stop him. How relieved she was when he pulled away from her, but in a way, she was almost disappointed. She rolled onto her side and wrapped the sheets tightly around her. Her mind wondered why she felt that way. She thought about it long and hard, finding herself pondering to know what strange pleasure Robin felt when he drank Sin's blood. She immediately suppressed that trail of thought.

' _What am I thinking? If Robin had bit me, he'd probably have drained me dry…But still, I wonder what it would be like?'_ Raven thought, as sleep claimed her again.

A/N: I hope you all like these chapters. Review and tell me please! I'd like to take this time and tell everyone I'm coming out with a new story. It's called: 'Final Fantasy VII: The Crow'. It stars Vincent Valentine as the Crow. He returns from the dead to seek revenge for the murder of himself and his wife, Lucrecia. I'll have it posted by next week. Keep your eyes out for it. See ya!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, just this story.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Hey, SHINAGAMI VIRUS, if you liked my last chapter then you're going to love this one! Everybody who's reading this story should go and read SHINAGAMI VIRUS's story –The Houkounin Saga—it's getting better and better. If you all don't know, I've just posted another story. Its call "Final Fantasy: The Crow." You can find it on my profile or go to games and search in the ff7 section. This chapter is going to mostly be about Sin and Raven's friendship, so you all know. I hope you like it.

 **Dark Omens**

The next few nights, Robin and Sin trained constantly in the training room. Robin was a very quick learner as Sin predicted and glad to see; he soon started giving Sin a run for his money. They sparred almost all night, every night. Sometimes they fought on the ceiling and the walls. When they weren't sparring Sin taught Robin how to use his new mind reading ability to figure out an opponent's weakness. He let Robin read his mind for practice, but only the thoughts he wanted Robin to find. He kept his private thoughts locked away from Robin, as there were things he didn't want a soul to know.

The other Titans hardly ever saw or heard them, except for Sin's laughter ringing throughout the Tower at the oddest moments. Starfire would sometimes go in Robin's room when he slept to check on him. She was trying very hard to get used to what Robin was. She was beginning to see past her fears, until one night…

Robin awoke when the sun had set. He got off his bed and went to his desk and picked up a little black box on top of the desk. He opened it up to see a gold ring he had customly made for Starfire. It had a huge emerald with four small diamonds around it.

 _'Tonight's finally the night!'_ Robin thought excitedly.

Robin closed the box and tucked it in his pocket. He turned around to find Sin sitting in the chair by the table. He had his left arm draped over the back of the chair and crossed his right leg over his left knee.

"Something special about tonight, Robin?" Sin asked.

"Evening, Sin! Yeah, tonight is the night I told Starfire my feelings to her," Robin announced. "Uh, Sin, I was wondering if I could spend tonight with Starfire."

Sin didn't look happy. He looked really worried for some reason.

"Robin, the moon is slightly purple tonight," Sin said.

"So, what's that got to do with anything?" Robin asked.

"It's an ill omen telling that something very bad will happen tonight. Maybe you should wait until tomorrow night to purpose to Starfire," Sin suggested.

"No way! I have been waiting for this night for a long time. Please, Sin, let me spend tonight with Star!" Robin said.

Sin sighed deeply, uncrossing his legs, and sat up from the chair. "As you wish, Robin, you have been doing excellent these last few nights."

"Thank you, Sin! I'll see you later then," Robin said.

He was about to leave the room when, but Sin held up a hand.

"Wait, Robin, before you go you need to feed, and I have something for you," Sin said. He pulled out a black belt similar to Robin's old utility belt. "It's just like your other belt, but this one has a few small alterations."

Robin put the new utility belt on and found that it attacked to his other two belts, with hooks that clap over them where they hang off his hips. He checked all the pockets and secret compartments to find everything he usually kept in his old belt. There was even a black Bo Staff with it. Robin drew it and pressed the button that extended it out. Robin thought it was exactly like his old one, until he noticed another button on it. He pressed it and a spearhead shot out both ends of the Bo staff.

"A bit lethal, don't you think, Sin?" Robin remarked.

"Make sure you use it more carefully then," Sin replied simply.

Robin shrugged and put the Bo Staff away. He then drank from Sin's wrist and said good night to him and left to find Starfire. When he was gone, Sin walked over to Robin's window. He pulled back the curtains to see the moon shining with a light veil of purple over the city.

 _'Robin can handle himself, but I wish he'd spend the night with Raven. Hmm, speaking of which, I'd better go see how she's doing,'_ Sin thought.

He felt out for Raven's aura and sensed she was in the common room. He vanished from Robin's room and reappeared on the couch. He looked around for Raven and found her weeping at the table. No one else was in the room, thankfully, to see her in this state. He got off the couch and walked over to her, feeling something he hadn't felt in centuries, it left him feeling so sad. He couldn't figure out what this feeling was, but it was responding to seeing her crying.

"Raven, are you alright?" Sin asked with deep concern, which surprised him that he was able to sound concerned anymore.

Raven quickly bolted her head up and looked at Sin in surprise. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. Her powers reacted to her emotions and sent a chair flying at Sin. He caught the chair easily with one hand.

"Sin! I'm sorry; I didn't mean to do that!" Raven apologized quickly.

Sin put the chair down by the table and sat in it.

"I know, Raven. Why are you crying?" Sin asked.

"I-It's nothing," Raven said quietly.

Sin gave her a look that clearly said 'Yeah, right.'

"It's Robin, isn't it?" Sin deduced.

"I don't want to talk about him!" Raven said, looking away from him. She wiped her tears away with her cloak.

"I thought so," Sin said.

"I truly thought I had a hold over my feelings for Robin. I know he loves Starfire, but I keep wishing he loved me. I hate this, Sin! I hate all of this!" Raven said. Some of the electronics in the kitchen blew up.

"Calm down, Raven, before you blow us all to the heavens," Sin said.

"I've tried, but it won't go away!" Raven cried.

"It goes away in time, Raven. You just have to bear it till it doesn't hurt anymore," Sin said.

"How would you know how much this hurts?" Raven snapped at him.

"Because, I've lost many people dear to me over the centuries," Sin replied with a kind of sorrow that no human alive could experience.

Raven looked at Sin when she heard the sorrow in his voice. He wasn't looking at her anymore; he was looking out the window at the ghastly, glowing moon.

"It's hard to forget them, especially one…Cynthia," Sin said sadly.

"Who's Cynthia? Was she someone very special to you?" Raven asked curiously.

"She was a human girl I met when I first came to America. She was a village girl living in one of the colonies around the time the puritans flocked here from Britain. She was a sweet and kind soul; she never did anything hateful to anyone or anything. Heh, when I first met her, I had every intention of making her my evening meal. I waited till she came to the barn to check on the animals I scared up to lure her out of the house. I then snuck up on her from behind in one of the stables and getting ready to attack, but before I even touched her. She turned around and smiled at me. I stopped right where I was. For some reason, that smile of hers made me think twice about harming her!" Sin said.

"A girl that smiled stopped you! There has to be more to it?" Raven said.

"There was, Raven, she somehow sensed me, and she wasn't afraid of me. That's what stopped me from harming her," Sin said.

"What happened after she saw you?" Raven asked.

"She asked who I was, and I told her I was just a stranger looking for some food," Sin said.

"You told her the truth?" Raven gaped.

"It seemed wrong to lie to her. She offered me some food, but not the kind I wanted from her. I made up an excuse to leave, and I left as fast as I could. I found a poor unlucky beggar to feed on to settle my hunger, but I was curious about her. I found myself going to her cottage and watching her through the window of her room every night. She soon realized I had been making these visits, and she confronted me in the woods one night. We met at an old willow tree close to her cottage. I told her I was curious about her, and we talked all night about ourselves. She thought I was a night spirit she heard from the Indians who lived nearby."

"I didn't dare tell her I was a Nosferatu, or what I needed to do to live. I just pretended to be a night spirit, it was near the truth. We became fast friends that night. Ever since I would visit her every night; I even helped her with her chores when I could, because she lived with only her mother. I remember the chats we had under the willow tree. We had so many wonderful times. I loved her like a daughter, Raven. I just wanted her to be happy, always," Sin said. His normal devilish grin changed into a pleasant one.

"Did you consider changing her into a Nosferatu?" Raven asked.

"She was the first human I wanted to change," Sin said.

"Why didn't you then?" Raven asked, titling her head in curiosity.

"It wouldn't have been right." Sin replied. "She was happy with the way her life was. I'd had killed myself before tainting her with my dark blood. Especially, when she fell in love with the blacksmith's son. He was the handsomest boy in the entire village. All the other girls wanted him as their husband. He was blessed with a fair and considerate personality. He didn't buy into any of the other girls' acts, but he fell in love with Cynthia, because of her nature, and he only wanted her. One night when we met at the tree, she asked me what I thought about the boy one night…"

"I remember that night so well. She was the happiest I have ever seen her be. I said as long as you loved him, and he loved you, then that was enough for me. Then, the next night, Cynthia came to me and told me he proposed to her. I was so happy for her. I wished her and him all the best in life. She wanted to have the wedding at night, so I could come and give her away. I thought it would be the happiest night for me to see her get married to the man of her dreams… but it wasn't!" Sin said bitterly, his tone changing to a hard-edged tone.

His expression turned to pure anger. He stood up and walked over to the window. He glared at the moon as he continued his story.

"It turned out one of the village girls wanted him, no matter what it took. She accused Cynthia of using witchcraft to bewitch the blacksmith's son. Those fucking villagers were so scared of witchcraft and anything consorted with it at that time, as you already know. They didn't listen to her when she tried to tell them she wasn't a witch. They just took both her and her mother to the town square where a tree was being ready for them for lynching. I awoke when the sun finally set. There was a moon just like this one that terrible night. I didn't pay it any mind; I was too excited to get to the wedding. I went straight to her cottage to see if she was ready. But when I got there…I found their house in ruins. The villagers had set fire to the cottage when they arrested them to 'cleanse' the land of the evil. I hurried as fast as I could to find Cynthia, but I was too late! I got there just in time to see them hang from a tree. They also hanged the blacksmith and his son with them, because they believed they were tainted by the devil!" Sin said.

"…Oh, Azar!" Raven gasped, covering her mouth in horror. "What happened then?"

The evil grin reappeared on his face. "I did what all my kind do when we get mad—I slaughtered them all! I let my Beast loose and killed them where they stood. I set the whole village on fire. I watched as the few I didn't kill with my hands burn to death, and I felt no pity for any of them when I did it all, but when I calmed down, I took Cynthia and her mother's body and buried them by the willow tree. I buried the blacksmith and his son next to them as well. I thought, at least she would be with her love in the afterlife." He sounded tearful at this point. "I left the village before the sun rose. I grieved for a long time in a cave I've been using to rest during the day." He closed his eyes, looking lost in those painful memories.

"I miss her so much, Raven. The pain of losing her didn't fade away for a long time. I had to bear with her death for centuries…I still can see her face when I look at the stars. Her eyes always had a sparkle like one in them. And when I saw that sparkle die in her eyes when she died, I began blaming myself for her death," Sin said sadly. "I let her die, because I wasn't quick enough."

"There wasn't anything you could have done!" Raven stated, sitting up from her seat.

"I could have changed her then when I had the chance! We could have spent eternality together, but I didn't. I just wanted her to have a happy human life," Sin grieved.

Raven walked up and stood next to him. She felt her heart go out to the crazy Nosferatu. He must have gone through so many tragedies she would never experience in one lifetime. Maybe that's why he turned into the grinning, half-crazy creature he was today. Heaven knows of the pain he had to bear, but looking at him now made all her problems pale in comparison to his. She quickly found she couldn't stand seeing him like this, so hurt, so alone…

"How about we hang out together tonight?" Raven offered.

Sin turned to face Raven with a blank expression. "Why?"

"Because, that's what friends do, don't they?" Raven replied.

"Friend? You think of me as a friend?" Sin said, unbelieving what he heard.

"Why not? You are a strange person, but I can tell you aren't pure evil. You're no saint, but you're not evil. You cared enough about trying to make me happy. Not many people, except for my friends, have ever cared about how I feel. So, yes, I do think of you as a friend," Raven said.

Sin looked at Raven like he was looking at someone else. "You know, Raven, for a second there you reminded me of Cynthia."

"I highly doubt I'm anything like her," Raven said.

"But you are in a curtain way! When you show your emotions it matches hers almost exactly," Sin said, his eyes gleaming with remembrance.

The look sparked something inside her and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. She tried ignoring it and waved his accusation away. "Whatever it may be, Sin. Let's go hang out and forget our troubles."

Sin laughed, but it wasn't wicked or evil, it was a nice laughter filled with joy. She found it pleasant to hear and felt so glad she was able to make someone happy for a change.

"Yes, we shouldn't waste the night on all this desolation!" Sin said.

Sin touched Raven's shoulder and they disappeared in a veil of darkness. She couldn't see anything for a time; she didn't know where she was, until the darkness vanished. They now were standing in front of the pizza plaza.

"Hungry?" Sin asked.

"Kind of, yeah," Raven said, hearing her stomach rumble.

"Dinner is on me then!" Sin said, leading Raven into the pizza plaza.

The two sat outside and ordered a double pepperoni pizza. The waitress came out with their pizza. She kept her eyes on Sin the whole time. He grinned at her when she neared their table, and she almost dropped their pizza. She caught herself and the pizza and quickly put it on their table, keeping a good distance from Sin. He paid for the pizza and the waitress ran back into the building.

"Nice people skills," Raven said sarcastically.

"You're one to talk!" Sin retorted.

Raven started eating a slice of pizza, until she saw Sin grab a slice. He was about to take a bite from his slice when he noticed she was staring at him.

"What?" Sin asked.

"I thought you could only drink blood," Raven replied.

"We can eat normal food, but have to drink blood to digest any of it," Sin explained.

They ate the pizza silently and left the pizza plaza. As they went out of the door, Sin snuck up behind the waitress that brought their pizza and yelled "BOO!" in her ear. She screamed her lungs out and ran for the kitchen. Sin burst out in a wicked laughter, scaring the rest of the people in the pizza plaza. They walked on the sidewalk for a while, until they came across a cemetery.

"Want to walk through the cemetery?" Sin asked.

"Nothing else to do, at least, it will be quiet," Raven said.

"If you are around me, Raven, nothings ever quiet!" Sin replied, laughing manically.

Raven rolled her eyes and they entered the cemetery. They walked by all the graves till they arrived to the center. The center was this huge, wide clearing. It had bricked flooring to keep it from looking dirty, a fountain with an angel on the top, rested in middle of the clearing, a couple of tombstones lined the outer area of the clearing, reminding any that they were still in a cemetery. There were stoned angels and crosses mixed in with the tombstones. In the center were two large walls with names of people who past on stood erect along the clearing. Sin strolled up to the fountain and sat on the edge. Raven sat next to him, glancing up at the night sky.

"What's it like living night after night never seeing the sun?" Raven asked, striking up conversation.

"Difficult at first, but after a while you learn to forget the sun and enjoy the night," Sin replied, resting his hands on the edge of the fountain, feeling the cool water dance against the ends of his fingers.

"It must get boring for you sometimes?" Raven inquired.

"Never! I live for the night. It has a beauty the sun can never match!" Sin said.

"Why is that?" Raven asked.

"The night is never the same. Every night there's something different about it. It's never the same like it is during the day. The moon gives it a different color all the time," Sin said.

Raven was about to ask another question, but she suddenly saw his face change expressions. He looked over her head with a look of amusement. She looked behind her and saw six people standing between the two walls. There were five men and one woman. The woman was dressed in a full tight leather outfit. She had a crossbow in her hand with silver arrows strapped in her arms, and her outer thighs. Her hair was sandy blonde, and her eyes were a cold blue. One of the men standing next to her was dressed like a priest; he looked close to his forties. His hair was golden, but it was gray on the sides. His mustache matched the color of his hair, and his eyes were a dark brown. On his back he carried two long swords. The second man on the woman's other side was dressed in street clothes. He had messy brown hair and green eyes. He was flipping a wicked curved dagger in his right hand, smirking sinisterly at them. Standing behind him was a big muscular man wearing biker clothing, and a blue bandanna around his head.

He was completely devoid of hair on his head, except for a thick black mustache, reaching up to his sideburns along his jaw line. His eyes were so dark they almost looked black He had a huge double-bladed axe resting over his right shoulder, one massive arm wrapped around its hilt. The fourth man was wearing priest clothes too, but he looked a lot younger than the other priest. His hair was bleach-blonde, and his eyes were a pale green. There were two scythe blades mounted on gauntlets he wore around his forearms. The fifth man was sitting in a really big truck behind the group. He had black hair and grayish-green eyes. He wore driving goggles on his head, and a white T-shirt with a picture of a bat being impaled by a stake. She couldn't see anything else of the man, because the rest of him was cut off from her view behind the steering wheel.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! This night just got better!" Sin laughed.

"Who are they, Sin?" Raven asked.

"Vampire hunters!" Sin answered.

He eyed the hunters with amusement and pure malice. He flashed them a fanged smile, chuckling wickedly. They got off the edge of the fountain and faced the hunters. Raven saw that Sin stepped in front of her to obscure from the hunter's view of her. The action was both flattering, as he wanted to keep her out of harms way, and annoying, as she guessed that Sin thought of her as one of those girls that needed protecting. The older priest stepped up and drew both his swords.

"Your reign of evil ends tonight, vampire!" the older priest declared.

"Many have said that to me, priest. And they all have perished!" Sin said.

"Well, your unlife will be ended by our blades this night, demon!" the young priest said.

"So young to be a hunter! It will almost be a pity to kill someone who hasn't lived in this world for long!" Sin snickered.

"Shut up, you vile demon! You and your little bitch are going to die right now," the woman said.

Sin glared at the woman; his eyes shined with an unholy light. "This girl has nothing to do with this fight. Leave her out of it!"

"You're wrong, vampire, I can sense a dark power from her. That demon spawn will accompany you to hell!" the young priest said.

Sin felt a twitch of shame come from Raven. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He saw her lowering her head and holding herself in her arms. She held herself as the shame turned to self-loathing of herself, and the site made his heart ache, terribly. He glared back at the young priest with murder written in his eyes.

"You're going to pay for saying that, bastard!" Sin growled viciously.

He reached into his jacket with his right hand. The sound of metal sliced out of his jacket when he drew it back out drew a long katana-like sword. The blade was double-edged and as long as his arm, curling slightly at the tip. The hand-guard was designed to resemble the blade coming out of the mouth of a black dragon. The hilt wrapped down like a serpent's tail, ending with a small wicked curved blade. When he gave it a practice swing with the flick of his wrist, the blade sang where it sliced the air.

"Before I kill you. You will tell me how you found me," Sin demanded.

"We don't have to tell you anything," the big biker barked.

"Why not, Leo, this shit is going to die anyway! We got a tip from some guy named Slade. He told us there was a dark being roaming in this city," the street punk said.

"Slade, huh? I'll tell you what, hunters. I'm in a good mood, so I'll fight you with only this sword, and nothing else if you leave this girl alone," Sin offered.

"We don't make deals with monsters!" the older priest said.

"But you deal with wanted criminals like Slade!" Sin retorted.

"He may be a criminal, but he's still human!" the woman said.

"Not by much from what I hear!" Sin chuckled.

"Be silent, vampire, we won't listen to your trickery," The older priest said.

"I'm giving you a fair fight, priest! Hell, I'll let you all fight me at once. If you manage to kill me, then you can do whatever you want to the girl! How does that sound?" Sin said.

"Sin, what are you doing?" Raven said.

"Stay quiet, Raven!" Sin said quietly, so only she could hear.

Raven backed away from Sin. She readied herself to help fight these hunters.

 _'Raven, don't react, just listen!'_ Raven heard Sin's voice in her mind.

 _'Sin?'_ Raven mentally replied.

 _'Yes, now listen carefully to me! These hunters belong to an organization called_ 'Night Crusaders.' _This organization works at ending all nocturnal creatures. If they suspect anyone or anything dealing with dark powers they will find them and kill them with no exceptions. Don't try reasoning with this lot, Raven. Their too blinded by their so-called holy crusade to listen to you,'_ Sin mentally said.

 _'Why don't we just teleport back to the tower, Sin?'_ Raven suggested.

 _'I can't allow these hunters to roam free! Robin is out in the city right now. If we run away they'll most likely go looking for us and find Robin instead. Besides, I never run from a fight! HAHAHAHAHA!'_ Sin replied.

 _'Then what do we do?'_ Raven said.

 _'_ You _aren't going to do anything! I'll dispatch this lot easily. Just stay back and keep your guard up. They may say they're working for the right cause, but they'll kill you at the first chance they get!'_ Sin said. "So, do you hunters have any ounce of honor, or are you all just a bunch of butcheries heretics?" Sin sneered out loud to the priest.

"Fine! Have it your way, vampire! We'll take care of your concubine after we destroy you!" the older priest said.

Sin smiled manically and brought his sword up in a fighting stance. "Perfect!"

The older priest was the first to attack. He thrust one sword at Sin's heart while bringing the other down to cleave off his head. Sin bent backwards at the waist, dodging the sword meant for his head. He parried the other sword away from his heart with his sword. Sin lunged forward and rolled past the older priest right at the other hunters. The young priest slashed at Sin's flank, but Sin blocked the blades with his plated boots. He flipped back to his feet just in time to dodge Leo's axe.

Raven kept them all in her view. She wanted to help Sin, but he told her to not get involved. That could make them go after her, and she didn't want to fight the hunters if she could help it, they where just doing what they thought to be just. So she watched them all as they fought Sin. It soon occurred to her that Sin was playing with them. She could tell Sin was capable of beating them. They tried to corner him, but he always managed to break through them. He let them strike at him and waste their energy fighting, trying to strike him down. He only laughed wickedly at the feeble attempts at hurting him.

He danced with his sword, deflecting all their blows. None of them could get past his defense…or so he thought. The street punk darted at Sin from behind, moving too quickly for any normal person, when the two priests were attacking him head on as one. He smirked and slashed at Sin's exposed back. Sin yelled out from the unexpected pain from the street punk's dagger. He tried to slash at the street punk, but the punk backed off before the sword slashed his throat. The young priest saw an opening and attacked. He slashed at Sin's left leg, trying to cut it off, but Sin jumped into the air and flipped behind the young priest.

"Naughty, naughty!" Sin snickered.

He kicked the young priest's ribs, flinging him toward Leo. The big man caught the young priest with just one arm with ease. Sin smiled evilly and rushed them. He almost stabbed them both, but the older priest swiped at him from the side. He backed off quickly from the older priest, but the older priest's swords sliced into his left arm, leaving the arm almost dismembered. His smile widened impossibly wider when he glanced at his half cut off arm. The blood redirected itself by going back into Sin's arm. The flesh sealed back on quickly and the wound healed perfectly. The priest took a step back from Sin. In all his years of fighting the undead, he'd never seen one heal so quickly. Sin reared his head back and laughed psychotically and continued fighting.

Raven was getting very worried about this fight. The woman never joined in it. Instead, she glared at Raven with those cold blue eyes. Raven could feel the woman's anger towards her. Whatever the reason why the woman wasn't fighting Sin, she knew she was planning something and it probably wasn't going to turn out good for her. She glanced quickly at the other hunters. They pushed Sin back toward one of the walls. He was having too much fun to notice they were leading him away from Raven. He laughed and batted the street punk away. It was then he read the punks mind and found out what they were doing. He turned to Raven.

"Raven! Watch out!" Sin yelled.

Before Raven made a move, an arrow sunk in her left leg. She screamed in agony as she fell down to her knees. Another arrow flew at her and buried itself in her right arm. She screamed again and looked at the woman in time to see her reloading her crossbow. She understood now why she wasn't fighting Sin. She was waiting for the others to distract him while she took care of her. Raven started crawling away from this cold woman. She tried to speak her words, but the pain in her limbs choked her voice. The woman laughed coldly as she took aim at Raven's head.

 _'This is it. I can't get away! Good-bye, Sin... tell the others good-bye for me,'_ Raven mentally said to Sin.

Raven glared at the woman. If this was going to be the end for her; she wanted to go out fighting. She slowly stood up on her good leg and tried to chant her words. Sin tried to get to Raven, but the other hunters kept blocking him. Raven almost said her words when the woman smiled cruelly and pulled the trigger. At the sound of the arrow being released, Raven closed her eyes and waited for the arrow that would end her life…but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes.

Standing in front of her was Sin. He had teleported to Raven just in time to take the arrow in the chest; a little too close to his heart. He didn't let the pain from the silver arrow bother him. He yanked it out and glared at the woman.

"I was going to give you a fair fight, but if you are going to play dirty tricks, then so will I!" Sin roared with a voice of cold anger.

He rolled the arrow around in his fingers, then grinned devilishly at the woman and threw the arrow at her in one swift flick of his hand. The woman didn't have time to evade. The arrow sank deep into her throat, killing her before she hit the ground.

"Gartha!" the street punk cried.

He lunged at Sin with his dagger, but Sin ran at him and twirled out of the dagger's path. He spun behind the punk and wrapped his right leg around the punk's neck. Then threw the punk to the ground with his leg still around his neck. He waited for a second to watch the punk struggle to get free before grinning and twisting his leg, snapping the punk's neck in two. He slowly untangled his leg from the dead punk and stood up very slowly, glaring viciously at the remaining hunters. He raised his sword over his head. Pointing the blade down so the tip of the sword was pointing at the ground. He crossed his left arm over his face, making a cross pattern in his strange fighting stance. His arms and bangs hid his face in shadows, leaving only his left eye visible to the hunters.

"You think you have fought the true Undead, huh! I shall show you the power of a true creature of darkness!" Sin said.

The white in his revealed eye turned burning red crimson. His slit pupil vanished in the blood red glow, leaving only a red glowing eye. The sword began to emit a dark red light. Leo wasn't threatened at all by what Sin was doing. He roared a battle cry and charged at him with his axe raised over his head. Sin moved ever so slightly forward before speaking in a dark, spidery voice.

 _ **"Crimson Laceration!"**_

Sin dashed at Leo in a blur. He moved so fast he left four images of himself in his wake. In twenty red blinding slashes, he stopped moving right behind Leo with blood dripping off his sword. Leo froze when Sin attacked him; he tried to turn around and cut Sin in half, but when he moved he fell into bloody pieces.

Sin licked the blood off his sword, eyeing the two priests with an evil glint shining in his eyes.

"Y-You monster! You will burn in hell for killing our comrades!" The young priest shouted. He ran at Sin with his arms crossed.

"Davis! Don't!" The older priest yelled.

Davis didn't listen to him. He ran up at Sin and slashed in a scissor pattern at his waist. It looked like he cut Sin in half, and he smirked in victory at the Nosferatu. Sin stared at Davis with a blank expression, and then his body fell and dissipated into shadows.

"W-What?" Davis gasped.

Sin reappeared next to Davis intact. He slashed upwards and cut off both of the boy's arms. He fell to his knees, going into shock from seeing his arms fall away from his body. Sin grabbed Davis by the top of his head and pulled him up his face. He looked with glee at the terror filling Davis's eyes. He grinned evilly and bit the youth's neck, drinking all the blood in his body in a matter of seconds. After Sin finished draining him, he tossed the body aside and laughed sadistically. The older priest stared in horror, looking at his falling comrades bodies.

"You bastard!" the older priest said.

"What did you think would happen, priest? Did you honestly think you could kill a true Undead _! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ That's just like you humans. You never consider you will die, until death is staring you in the face." Sin taunted. "You made a grave mistake in challenging me!"

"You killed all my friends, monster! I'll never forgive you for this," the older priest said heatedly.

"You shouldn't grieve for your friends deaths. After all, you're doing God's will, aren't you? I would think you and your friends wouldn't fear death, because you knew where you were going! Unless you are all fakes trying to use your lords' name to justify your actions!" Sin crackled evilly.

"Shut up! Only a soulless creature like you could never understand how precious life is!" the older priest said.

"Oh! I understand all too well how precious life is, but I'm not the one passing judgment over my fellow man's free will," Sin said.

"Anyone who turns away from God deserves to feel his righteous wrath!" the older priest spat.

"If that was true then why did your God give mankind the freedom to make their own choice in how to live their lives?" Sin proclaimed.

"Mankind needs to be guided by God, so they can keep their immortal soul!" the older priest said.

He struck at Sin with both of his swords. Sin easily blocked both of them and locked them in the dragons' opened mouth. He twisted his sword and broke the priest's blades. Sin backhanded him, making him tumble away.

"I despise humans like you! You think by using God's name you can control the actions of others. If they don't jump when you say so, you kill them. Calling them heretics, because they actually thought for themselves. You believe there is only one way to go through life. Here's a news flash, priest! If the God you believe in is so pure and good, then how do you explain why my kind exist?" Sin said.

"You are all hellspawn from the devil!" the older priest said.

"Please! The devil is something humans made up in their minds," Sin said. "The only devil that exists in this world is the doubts, fears, and greed in all Mankind's souls. You make your own demons, priest. I am what I am, because it is in my nature. We don't kill and drink human blood for just pleasure! We are what keep you humans from over-populating the world. If we didn't exist then you would start starving from lack of food. You would kill your fellow man just for what he has, and then you all would kill yourselves to extinction!"

"You lie!" The older priest said.

"I don't care if you believe me. It's your choice to believe what you want, but you should have learned to respect your fellow man's choice," Sin said.

"I will do what I vowed in front of God to do! I will wipe your unholy kind, and any other dark power from the face of this earth! Paul! Kill this demon's concubine!" the older priest shouted.

Paul started the truck and slammed on the gas. He drove the truck right at Raven.

"No!" Sin cried.

He threw his sword at the priest, impaling him in the heart with it. The priest fell lifeless to the ground, with his cold hands around the sword's hilt. Raven tried to levitate away, but the truck came at her too fast. She put her arms up waiting for the coming impact, but Sin had jumped in front of the truck. She saw him grab the grill and plant his feet into the flagstone ground, cracking it. He started slowing the truck down, but not enough. It was still coming at her. At first, Raven thought Sin was stopping the truck with his inhuman strength, but she noticed tendrils of shadows wrapping around the truck. Sin strained to keep the truck from running over Raven, but it was proving difficult from what he imagined. The truck was definitely modified for power and speed, because he was finding it difficult to stop the vehicle.

"Good! Now I can get you both!" Paul shouted.

He flipped a switch on the console by his steering wheel. Headlights opened out from hidden compartments on the grill of the truck. They flashed to life, shining high-condensed ultra-violet rays on Sin. He began smoking all over his body. Some of the shadow tendrils dissolved from the burning light. Raven watched on as Sin still kept struggling to stop the truck, burning to death.

"Sin! You have to stop! You're going to die if you don't stop!" Raven shouted at him, but Sin didn't stop.

"No! No! I won't let you die! I've lost so many people I ever cared for. I won't lose you! Get away while you can, Raven!" Sin cried. His skin started turning to ash.

Raven was so very lost. She just witnessed Sin kill five people in front of her and now here he was, protecting her from something that was killing him. He was sacrificing himself just so she could live. Her empathy sensed great sadness coming from him. She felt a crack in his strong mental barrier, and she slipped through and found an image of a young girl in his mind. She was dressed in a white dress with a white ribbon holding her long hair. Raven was shocked beyond belief. The girl looked exactly like her, except the young girl had long black hair and emerald green eyes.

Raven immediately knew it was Cynthia she was seeing. She saw a not-so-scary Sin talking to her by a willow tree. They were laughing happily and playing games looking so innocent and carefree together. Then…Raven saw an image of her hanging from a tree in the middle of a village. The villagers were cursing at the dead body, poking it with sticks and pitch forks. She heard a voice crying in her head. She felt it out and found she was hearing Sin's immediate thoughts!

 _'I'll be dawned to hell if I let this bastard kill Raven! I lost Cynthia to people like him. I won't let it happen again! With all that I am, I well keep her and Robin safe. I haven't felt these emotions for so long. I can't lose either of them, not now, not ever!'_ Raven heard Sin say in his mind.

Raven didn't care anymore about the people he killed. Her eyes glowed white and she pointed her left hand at the truck.

" _Azarath, Metrion…ZINTHOS!_ " Raven chanted.

The trucks headlights turned black and exploded. Paul dropped the smile he was wearing when he saw them go out. Sin began laughing hysterically then. He summoned more shadows to wrap around the truck. The truck was lifted off the ground and Paul tried to get out, but the tendrils kept him from opening the door. Sin reached out his right hand to his sword. Shadow tendrils shot out of his hand and grabbed the hilt. They pulled the sword out of the dead priest's body and carried it back to Sin's waiting hand. He glanced at the truck wickedly as he concentrated his dark energy into the sword. This time it began glowing pitch black.

Sin made the tendrils throw the truck up into the air, and he slashed at the truck, a shockwave of dark energy sliced through the truck. It ignited the gas and the truck exploded into a flaming fireball, crashing down to the earth. Sin fell to one knee, using his sword as a prop to keep him from collapsing. The burn marks were quickly healing, returning to pale flesh. Sin got back on both feet and walked over to Raven.

"Are you alright, Raven?" Sin asked with deep concern.

"Except for the arrows sticking out of me, I'm fine," Raven replied weakly.

Sin forced out a light laugh and glanced at the arrows in Raven. "This is going to hurt a lot. Brace yourself," Sin warned. He grabbed the arrows and yanked them out of her quickly. She choked back the pain as Sin applied pressure over the wounds, until the bleeding slowed.

"It's alright, Sin, I can heal the wounds," Raven said, blushing slightly from the contact.

Sin let go of the wounds and watched as Raven healed them with her healing powers. The wounds sealed, leaving behind white soft flesh where the wounds were. He looked at the blood in his hands and thought about tasting the blood, but quickly decided against it. He wiped the blood off on the front of his shirt.

Raven looked at all the dead bodies around her. She thought she should feel sorry for them. They were only doing what they believed in, but she didn't feel an ounce of pity for them.

"I'll take care of this mess. We need to get you back to the Tower to rest. It must be a bit too much to have seen people die around you," Sin said almost sadly.

"It's alright, Sin, I understand why you did it," Raven said.

"You are a curious one, Raven. You just saw me kill these people and you aren't bothered by it," Sin said.

"It's pointless to worry about something that was unavoidable. So, there's nothing to be bothered by," Raven said in her monotone voice.

Sin chuckled, shaking his head side to side. "I wish the world was full of more people like you. Then maybe it wouldn't be so screwed up as it is," Sin said.

Raven gave him a small smile and tilted her head. "If there were more people like me in this world, then it would be a very scary place to live in."

Sin laughed wickedly as he sheathed his sword back into his jacket. All of a sudden, he stopped laughing. He turned his head eastward, wide eyed.

"Sin, what's wrong?" Raven asked worriedly.

"Robin's lost control of his beast! We have to hurry before it is too late!" Sin said hastily.

He touched Raven's shoulder and they were covered by darkness.

A/N: What do you guys think of this chapter? Review and tell me please.


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. I just own Sin and this story.

A/N: Kind of mean of me to leave you all off with a cliffy! Heh, Heh! You're all wondering what happened to Robin and Starfire, hmm? Well, their time together ends here and now! A love is shattered, but a new love will be kindled for four confused souls.

 **Beast Unleashed**

Robin left his room and proceeded to the living room. He found everyone there; Raven was reading another vampire novel: Cyborg, Beast Boy, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest were playing video games. Starfire and Speedy were talking at the table. Robin walked over to the table smiling, but not showing any teeth.

"Hey, Star!" Robin said cheerfully.

Starfire looked up at Robin and smiled warmly to him. "Evening, Robin!"

Raven stopped reading her book and glanced at the dark boy wonder. "Where's Sin?"

"He was in my room when I last saw him," Robin said, pointing with a thumb back at the direction from where he came.

"Why aren't you and Sin training tonight?" Speedy asked.

"I asked for the night off," Robin replied. "Hey, Star, I thought we could go out tonight, or are you too tired to go out?"

Starfire clasped her hands together and flew out of her chair. "I'd love to, Robin! It has been too long since we went out together," Starfire exclaimed happily.

Starfire floated next to Robin and wrapped an arm around his. They left the living room together, smiling happily. Speedy watched them go. He sighed deeply and ran a hand through his short red hair. The other boys stopped playing their game. Hot Spot went to the table and patted Speedy's back.

"You knew she was taken," Hot Spot said.

"W-What are you talking about?" Speedy asked, trying to sound unchalant about it.

"You can't fool us, dude! We know you like Starfire," Beast Boy said.

"I-I just like her as a friend, that's all!" Speedy proclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah! We know you like Star more than that!" Cyborg said.

"Like it matters if I do! Star still loves Robin, she'll never go out with me," Speedy said depressively.

"Aww, forget about it, man! There is always another girl to fall for. Come on, Speedy, why don't we go to the Arcade! That'll help you!" Cyborg said.

"I don't need any help!" Speedy said stubbornly.

"Oh, yes, you do!" Cyborg stated.

Wildebeest grabbed Speedy and picked him off his seat. He flung Speedy over his right shoulder and carried him out of the living room.

"Hey! Put me down you oversized yak!" Speedy yelled, struggling to get off Wildebeest's shoulder. The other boys followed them out.

"This is for your own good, dude!" Beast Boy said.

Raven closed her book and put it down next to her. She slowly sat up from her spot. All her emotions came crashing down on her. There was no holding back the tears that wished to fall. She tried to walk to her room, but her emotions were getting out of hand. She reached the table before sitting down in a chair. She couldn't hold them back the tears anymore. She accepted the painful truth that no matter what she tried; Robin would never see her as more than a friend. She rested her head in her arms on the table and cried tears full of pain and sorrow…

Robin and Starfire went to the cinema. Robin thought that would be a great way to start the night off.

"What kind of movie do you want to see?" Robin asked Starfire.

"Umm, something with lots of romance and joyous happiness!" Starfire cheered.

"Uh, Ur? O-Okay," Robin said. For some reason, seeing a movie like that didn't seem appealing to him. He wondered know why, as he used to watch them all the time with Starfire. Figuring maybe it was just his anxiety about what he was going to ask her, he shrugged the feeling off.

They paid for their movie and Robin got Starfire a large popcorn and drink, knowing the alien girl loved snacks when they saw a movie. They sat in their seats just as the previews started. One of the previews was for a new horror movie.

"Eep! I hate those kind of movies!" Starfire said, hiding behind her popcorn, until the preview was over, shaking like a leaf.

 _'Raven would like to see it,'_ Robin thought, and then he raised an eyebrow _. 'Where did that come from? She isn't even here, and I'm still thinking about her!'_ Robin thought worriedly.

Lately, Robin had been thinking a lot about Raven since that night they got to know each other better. He kept finding himself wanting to be around her more each night, but Sin never let him, because of his training. He sometimes snuck into Raven's room just to see her when she was sleeping. Sin would make jokes about his new feelings for Raven. Robin would tell him whenever he commented on them, that he only had feelings for her as a friend, but Robin found he was lying to himself. Over the nights he'd imaged what it would be like to have a serious relationship with Raven, but then he reminded himself that would be betraying Starfire.

 _'Starfire and I have been together for three years! I can't believe I'm thinking about someone else that way. Especially Raven! If she knew I was thinking of her that way; she'd get mad and do something very horrible to me!'_ Robin thought, imaging himself being blasted through a concrete wall by Raven.

He pushed his thoughts about Raven aside and tried to watch the movie. Which wasn't an easy thing to sit still and watch. The movie had too much light and warmness in it. The people in the movie acted like drama queens to Robin. He was ready to gouge out his own eyes half way through the movie. Starfire on the other hand loved the movie. She hugged Robin's arm lovingly, and rested her head on his stiff shoulder. She never felt Robin twitching; he was trying very hard not to run out of the theater screaming like a mad man, just proof to his iron discipline. When the movie ended, Robin was trying not to vomit his last meal all over the place. They left the cinema and Robin couldn't have been happier.

"Robin, did you enjoy that lovely movie as much as I did?" Starfire asked cheerfully.

"It was alright, but it had too much mushy stuff. It didn't have enough action," Robin replied plainly.

"But I like the mushy stuff," Starfire pouted.

 _'Glad one of us does!'_ Robin thought sarcastically. Robin rubbed the side of his head suddenly, as if he was getting a headache.

"Robin, Is something the matter?" Starfire asked with concern when she saw him rubbing his temple.

"I think I've been around Sin for too long," Robin said dryly.

"W-Why do you say that?" Starfire said nervously, looking over her shoulder, as if expecting the Nosferatu to show up there upon the mention of his name.

"Nothing, Star, I meant to say I think I've been cooped up in the Tower too long, that's all!" Robin said quickly.

Starfire let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good!"

"You don't like Sin, do you, Star?" Robin deduced.

"N-No! It is not that, Robin, I just feel I don't know him well enough," Starfire said neutrally.

"That and your scared shitless of him," Robin mumbled under his breath.

"Did you say something, Robin?" Starfire said.

"Huh? I didn't say anything, Star!" Robin said innocently.

Starfire narrowed her eyes at Robin and walked an inch away from him. Robin felt her doubt rising in her, and he didn't care anymore.

 _'I think I have been around Sin for too long!'_ Robin thought. "Umm, what would you like to do next, Starfire?" Robin asked quickly, trying to save the date.

"How about we get something to eat. Umm, oh, I know! Why don't we eat at the place shaped like a slice of pizza!?" Starfire said brightly.

Robin was about to tell the redhead he couldn't eat normal food anymore, but that might want to ruin her mood. "Sounds good to me," Robin replied, smiling without showing any teeth.

They arrived at the pizza plaza. When they walked in Robin noticed everyone looked a bit scared. They sat outside and ordered an extra cheese pizza. The waitress who served them appeared to be in a nervous wreck. She put their pizza on the table, and Robin paid the nervous waitress. He tried to look pleasant to the waitress to ease whatever was bothering her. He smiled at her, but he accidentally showed his fangs and the waitress screamed at the top of her lungs and ran back into the building. Robin looked at Starfire confused.

"What's her problem?" Robin wondered.

Starfire shrugged her shoulders; she was just as confused as him. Starfire started eating her pizza, but stopped when she noticed Robin was staring at the moon.

"Aren't you going to have any, Robin?" Starfire asked.

"Star, I…can't eat normal food anymore," Robin said sadly.

"Why not?" Starfire asked, blinking confused eyes at him.

"Well, Uh, I don't know, Nosferatu can only drink blood," Robin said.

"Says who?" Starfire said.

"Uh, I don't know?" Robin said.

"If you don't know, Robin, then try a slice of pizza and found out," Starfire said.

"I guess it can't hurt to try. At least it doesn't have any garlic in it! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" Robin joked.

"What is so funny about garlic?" Starfire asked.

Robin sighed and ran a hand through his spiky hair. "Never mind, Star."

He picked up a slice and cautiously chewed the tip of the pizza. His mouth exploded with taste, because of his heightened taste buds. The pizza tasted great to Robin! He smiled happily and took a big bite out of his slice. He grinned from ear to ear while he chewed the pizza and swallowed it without any difficultly.

"That was good!" Robin said, smiling widely.

"I'm glad, Robin!" Starfire said.

They finished the pizza and left the pizza plaza.

"Where shall we go next?" Starfire asked.

"How about we go for a walk in the park? It's nice to walk-through at night," Robin suggested.

"Okay!" Starfire said, nodding her head slightly to the side.

They went to the park, not saying a word as they walked. They walked by the spot by the lake where he and Sin talked, seeing that the hole from the explosion was still there. Robin grinned to himself as he remembered that incident. He wasn't going to admit it out loud to Sin, but that was a fun night for him. Starfire and Robin came to the playground near the lake. Starfire giggled to herself and floated over to the swing set. She sat in one of the swings and started swinging in it slightly. Robin came up behind her and pushed her swing some.

"I hope you are having good a time tonight, Starfire," Robin said.

"Yes! This has been a wonderful evening," Starfire replied happily.

"I'm afraid we will have to spend all our time together like this," Robin noted sadly.

"It's not that bad, Robin, as long as I still have you, I can live with it," Starfire said.

Robin stopped pushing the swing and touched Starfire's shoulders. "Umm, Starfire, there's something I've been wanting to ask you for a long time." His stomach was starting to flip from nervousness.

"Yes, Robin, what do you wish to ask me?" Starfire asked in wonder, turning her head to look at him over her shoulder.

Robin stepped in front of her and kneeled on his left knee. He took both her hands into his own. "Starfire, do you remember that tonight is the same night I told you my feelings for you?"

"Oh, yes! I do remember, Robin!" Starfire said, smiling warmly.

"We've been together for three years now. I want to spend the rest of the time we have together." Robin said. He reached for the ring in his pocket. "That's why I want to ask you if you will—!"

"Oh, Robby Poo!" an ear shattering voice rang in Robin's sensitive ears.

"Oh, God no! Not her! Anything but her!" Robin prayed.

He looked behind him, and to his greatest dread, he saw Kitten smiling ear to ear at him, standing near the slide. She was wearing a pink tank top and light blue pants with pink sandals.

"It's been a while, hasn't it, Robby Poo?" Kitten said.

Robin and Starfire moved away from the swing set and instantly got in their fighting position.

"What do you want, Kitten?" Robin demanded.

"Nothing much, Robby Poo, except to make you pay for humiliating me at my prom!" Kitten said, clenching one fist.

"You did that to yourself, you _chlorbag_!" Starfire said, her eyes glowing green.

"I'm not talking to you, bitch! Fang, take care of her," Kitty said, snapping her fingers.

Fang descended behind her from the trees. "You got it, baby!" Fang said.

Robin stepped forward and bared his fangs at them. "You leave Starfire alone!"

"Why, Robby Poo, where did you get such attractive fangs!?" Kitten said, finding them extremely attractive.

Robin smiled evilly at Kitten. "Trust me, Kitten, you don't want to know!"

"It doesn't matter, anyway. You're both going to be bug chow!" Kitten said. She pulled out a remote control device out of her pocket. "Daddy just made a new batch of moths, and I thought I'd try them out!"

She pressed a button and a humming sound filled the air. Mutated moths swarmed all around them. These moths looked more vicious then the last ones they faced. These moths had manta-like claws on their front abdomens. Robin noticed some of the moths were chewing on something. A piece of whatever they were chewing on fell on the ground. Both Robin and Starfire gasped as they realize what the moths were chewing on. The piece on the ground…was a part of Killer Moth's mask.

"What happened to Killer moth?" Robin wondered in horror, slowly bringing his eyes back on the preppy girl.

"Daddy wouldn't let me get my revenge on you. I always get what I want, Robin…but daddy won't listen to me. So, I had to punish daddy!" Kitten said, shrieking with laughter.

"You set his own moths on him?!" Starfire said, horrified.

"So what?! If daddy just did what I wanted when I demanded it. He wouldn't be dead now!" Kitten said, stomping her foot childishly.

"You're crazy!" Robin proclaimed, snaring at her.

"No, I'm not crazy! If someone stops me from getting what I want, they deserve what they get. Just like what you two deserve. Fang! Get that fucking whore!" Kitten yelled, thrusting a finger in Starfire's direction.

"Right!" Fang said.

He came at Starfire, fast, getting ready to stab her with his front spider legs. Robin moved in front of him with his incredible new speed. He batted away the legs with his hands, easily. Fang spat his sticky web at him. Robin jumped into the air; Starfire floated away before being hit by the sticky wad. Robin flipped in the air, and he slammed the heels of his boots in Fang's face. Fang fell on his rear, rubbing his sore face. Robin used the momentum from the blow to flip back next to Starfire.

Kitten glared at Fang angrily, and shouted, "What are you doing?! Get back up and attack! Or do you want to be my moths' next meal!"

Fang bolted up fast and ran at Starfire and Robin with fervor.

"Starfire! You try to get that remote away from Kitten. I'll keep Spidey busy!" Robin said.

"I'll just melt it!" Starfire said, charging up her hands.

"No! If you destroy that remote it might make the moths go berserk and attack everything!" Robin said quickly.

"Oh! I didn't think of that," Starfire said. Changing tactics, she flew at Kitten, reaching out to grab the remote.

"Not this time, slut!" Kitten said. She pressed another button on the remote and the moths flew at Starfire.

Starfire veered away from Kitten to avoid the swarm coming at her. She shot starbolts at any of the moths that got to close, but there were too many of them for them to do any major damage to the entirety of the swarm. She flew around the swarm in attempt to get away and circle back to Kitten. The swarm followed her everywhere she went and some of the bugs moved to encircle Kitten to protect her. Robin tried going after Kitten himself, but Fang kept getting in his way.

 _'I should be able to get past him easily, but he's faster and stronger then last time!'_ Robin thought with irritation. He super kicked Fang in the gut and it felt like he was hitting metal. "Been working out lately, huh, Fang!" Robin said.

"Nope! Steroids!" Fang answered, spitting his paralyzing venom at Robin.

Robin evaded the venom and pulled out a smoke bomb in his utility belt. He tossed the smoke bomb at Fang and it blanketed him in a sheet of smoke. Robin ran up to Kitten, surprising her with his inhuman speed as he buzzed around the insect horde guarding her.

"Don't come near me, or I'll set the moths on the entire city!" Kitten threatened.

Robin snatched the remote out of her hand in a blink of an eye. "Kind of hard to do without this," Robin said.

He suddenly sensed something coming at him from behind. He tried to turn around and block, but Fang proved to be the faster one stabbed his right shoulder with his left front spider leg. Robin dropped the remote and fell to his knees in agony. He tried to pull the leg out with both hands, but the leg wouldn't budge. Fang used all his other legs to stab Robin in the gut rapidly. The legs pierced into Robin's guts, perforating it nonstop. Robin screamed in purest agony at feeling having his stomach and guts and other vital organs being ripped to shreds. Most of the blood he drank from Sin leaked out of him, including his own, creating a very large pool of it under him.

"Damn! I stabbed this guy fifty times, and he's still alive!" Fang gawked, beginning to get tired of stabbing Robin.

"Stab at his head, you idiot!" Kitten ordered with impatience.

Fang struck at Robin's face with his right front spider leg. Robin caught the leg with both his hands instinctively. He was losing his strength quickly from the wounds inflicted on him; his arms were shaking violently as they strained to fend off the deadly appendage.

"W-When did you get so strong?!" Fang grunted.

"I changed my diet!" Robin said, giving him a cocky smile.

Starfire wasn't fairing any better. The swarm of moths proved to be relentless. No matter how many she shot at they still came at her. The swarm divided in half and circled around Starfire, cutting off her retreat. Starfire shot her starbolts and her eye beams to burn her way through the swarm, but the moths would instantly cover any gap she made. The swarm slashed at Starfire from all sides. They ripped her clothes and her skin with their manta-like claws and teeth. Starfire let out an agonizing scream.

"Starfire!" Robin yelled.

Kitten started laughing insanely. She spun around with her arms out. She twirled and wrapped her arms around Fangs neck. She stroked the side of his spidery face with her left hand.

"Give up, Robby Poo, you can't win! You're powerless to stop us. After my moths finish your girlfriend, I'll set them loose on the city! _MAHAHAHA_!" Kitten said, laughing in triumph.

Robin wasn't listening to her. He was losing too much blood and resulting in him losing consciousness. His strength was vanishing by the second and his eyes were shadowed by his spiky bangs as his head lowered itself, as if in shame of feeling so helpless now. With everything that Sin taught him, he was still no match for a mutated freak and his crazy girlfriend, what chances did he have against beings like Sin? Did he really even stand a chance to begin with? What was it that Sin saw in him from the start to think he had the makings of a Nosferatu? He was losing! And the enraged him deep inside that he couldn't defeated Fang and save Starfire…it was maddening.

…Suddenly then, the wounds on Robin's stomach healed themselves slowly. The huge gaps in his body sealed and the blood stopped pouring out, and showed muscular abs through the shredded shirt. Robin began laughing hysterically for some odd reason. He laughed so hard his shoulders were shaking violently, and he couldn't understand why he was and found he did not care. Kitty was getting very ignored by his weird laughter.

"What's so damn funny?!" Kitten demanded.

Robin slowly faced Kitten with slit pupil eyes. "Heh, Heh! You think I'm powerless? _AHAHAHA_! You have no idea what you just released!" Robin crackled.

His right eye began glowing a dark purple light. His slit pupil in that eye vanished, and a dark purple beam shot out of his eye. The beam blew off Fang's front right leg, leaving it a bleeding stump. Robin looked at the leg in his shoulder and another beam blasted that one off, too. Fang screamed in pain and backed away from Robin, spraying everything with green blood. Robin pulled out the remains of Fang's leg and the wound instantly healed. He glared at Fang evilly.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Robin growled savagely. He lunged after Fang and jabbed him in his ribcage. Fang keeled over on the ground, clutching his now broken ribs.

Robin slowly turned around and faced Kitten with an evil smile. He took out his Bo staff, extending it out.

"You're next, Kitten!" Robin said.

Kitten panicked and grabbed the remote lying next to her on the ground. "I think not!" Kitten said.

She used the remote to make the moths go after Robin. The swarm stopped attacking Starfire and flew at him. Starfire slowly fell to the ground covered in deep cuts from head to toe. The swarm came at Robin and he laughed evilly. He glared at the approaching swarm, and fired a dark purple beam at the swarm. The beam shredded through the swarm, killing half the moths. The moths circled around him to attack. He laughed hysterically as the moths clawed at him and his wounds continued to heal themselves. He struck at them with his Bo staff, bashing them all and littering the ground around him with dead moths. Robin killed the remaining moths in this fashion. When all the moths were dead, Robin slowly walked toward Kitten.

"Here kitty, kitty!" Robin said wickedly.

Fang reared up behind Robin, readying his last two spider legs to stab him. "You're not going to do anything to Kitten!" Fang yelled, through almost punctured lungs.

Robin didn't look at him. He pressed the button for the spearheads. The blades shot out both ends, and he stabbed Fang in the gut behind him. "Who asked you?" Robin growled.

He yanked the Bo staff out of Fang, and he put it back on his utility belt. Fang collapsed on the ground with his remaining spider legs twitching violently. Robin stalked over to Kitten and grabbed both her arms.

"Let go of me!" Kitten shrieked.

Robin pulled her close to him. Her face was an inch from his. She looked at his face and stared at his weird glowing eye, finding herself increasingly afraid the more she stared at it.

""L-Let me go!" Kitten pleaded.

Robin sensed her fear, and he licked his lips. "What's the matter, Kitten? Last time you wanted a kiss from me, I just want to give you what you deserve," Robin said.

He kissed her jaw line and worked his way down to her neck. Kitten couldn't break free from him. The feather kisses he trailed down her neck made her knees feel weak.

"W-What are you d-doing!?" Kitten quivered in fright.

"I just told you, my little kitten, you're getting what you wanted and now I will get what I want!" Robin purred darkly.

He brushed his lips on her neck and sank his fangs into her throat. Kitten screamed, but the scream died down to a moan. Kitty melted in his embrace and slowly wrapped her arms around Robin. Robin's first taste of fresh blood was too thrilling for him. It was sweeter and warmer than Sin's blood…and far more addicting. He wanted it all! He swallowed the sweet coppery blood in mouth fills. He bit down harder to try and get more blood to come out. Starfire watched in horror as Robin drank from Kitten. She struggled to get up, but she was bleeding all over the place and her vision was darkening. Fighting off the darkness threatening to engulf her, she painfully got up and ran as fast as she could to Robin. She tried with all her might to pull him off Kitten.

"Robin! You most stop at once! You will kill her if you keep doing this!" Starfire yelled at him.

Robin smelt her blood and let go of Kitten. She fell to the ground like a rock. On her face was an expression of pure pleasure.

"Are you jealous, Starfire?" Robin taunted.

He swirled around in a flash and wrapped his left arm around her waist. He gently placed his right hand on the back of her neck. He eyed Starfire with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Mmm, has anyone ever told you, you look so beautiful covered in blood?" Robin said.

"R-Robin, please stop this!" Starfire said, feeling very much afraid of him right then.

Robin gave her a wicked grin and licked some of the blood leaking from a cut on her cheek.

"N-No! Robin, you are not yourself! You have to stop now!" Starfire pleaded, beginning to cry now.

"Why? Just look at Kitten's face. She enjoyed every second of it. Aren't you the least bit curious of what kind of pleasure I can give you if I bit that delicious neck of yours?" Robin said, eyeing her neck.

"It-It's not right, Robin, I—!" Robin placed a finger on her lips. "Shhhh," Robin said softy.

He leaned his face so it was inch from her neck. He smelled the fresh blood aromating from her opened wounds, finding it spicier than Kitten's. Starfire was trying to push Robin off, but his body was like steel and her strength was already almost gone from the amount of blood she lost. She couldn't bring herself to use her eye beams on him, but if he bit her, she'll have no chose, but to hurt her beloved. Robin inched his mouth to Starfire's neck. He bared his fangs and prepared to bite her neck…!

Out of nowhere, a ripple of darkness appeared behind Robin. A hand shot out from it and yanked Robin off Starfire and tossed him to the side. Robin crashed into the monkey bars, getting tangled in the metal bars. The ripple expanded and Sin and Raven stepped out of it.

Raven saw Starfire quivering in horror. She gasped at all the cuts on her body and went to her side. She put her hands on her best friend's shoulders tenderly. "Starfire, what happened to you?" Raven said with worry.

"W-We were attacked by K-Kitten and Fang. She used Killer-r Moth's new creations to try and kill us. Oh, Raven, it was horrible! Robin was losing to Fang, then all of a sudden, h-he starts laughing! He—He!" Starfire couldn't finish what she was trying to say. It was too much for her to describe.

"It's all right, Starfire, we're here now," Raven said, trying to comfort her friend as best as she could. She concentrated her healing powers on all the cuts on Starfire's body and they quickly disappeared.

Sin walked over to Robin. He glanced at Kitten and Fang lying on the ground. He stepped on the dead moths Robin killed, filling the air around him with loud crunching sounds.

"Been a busy boy tonight, haven't you?" Sin snickered, grinning at Robin.

Robin glared at Sin viciously and his eye glowed again. The grin on Sin's face vanished instantly. He stared at Robin in total disbelief. "…It can't be!"

"Get away from me!" Robin roared. He fired a beam at Sin and it struck him dead center in the chest, sending him crashing into a tree.

The force of the beam made Sin's body break the trunk of the tree. Sin fell on the ground just as the tree fell on top of him.

"Sin!" Raven cried.

A dark energy erupted from under the tree and the tree exploded into splinters. Sin stood up covered in an almost pitch black aura. He was still staring at Robin in disbelief.

"Sin, what did Robin just do?" Raven wondered, looking in the same state as Sin.

"The Evil Eye! Robin has the Evil Eye!" Sin said.

"The Evil Eye?" Both the girls said at once.

"Yes, it can only be the Evil Eye!" Sin said.

"What is the Evil Eye?" Raven asked.

"It a rare gift for any Nosferatu to have! It's even rarer for a human to have. It takes the person's pain and anger and channels it into a deadly weapon. The negative energy is concentrated through the eye and blasts anything in its sight with dark energy. You two keep back! One good shot from the Evil Eye can kill a living person instantly!" Sin warned.

"Be careful, Sin," Raven cautioned.

"Heh, Heh! I've dealt with this kind of thing before!" Sin replied with confidence.

He vanished from where he was standing and reappeared next to Robin. Before Robin could look at him, Sin covered Robin's eyes with his right hand. His eyes were then covered by a darkness emitting from under Sin's hand. Robin fired his Evil eye again, but the darkness over his eyes prevented the blast.

"Robin! You must regain control!" Sin said.

Robin thrashed about, trying to untangle himself. He tried shooting his Evil Eye again and again, but Sin reinforced the darkness covering his eyes.

 _ **"Richard Grayson! Regain control, now! I command you!"**_ Sin said in a booming commanding voice.

Robin instantly stopped moving and lay limp in the metal bars. He slowly began moving again as if he was just waking up.

"S-Sin? What happened! Is Starfire all right and why is everything so dark?" Robin asked hastily.

Sin sighed in relief and removed his hand. The darkness around Robin's eyes disappeared. When he looked at his eyes, the pupils had returned to normal.

"You lost control, Robin, you almost bit Starfire," Sin informed him.

"No! I-I don't remember trying to bite Star!" Robin said in disbelief.

Sin helped Robin untangle himself from the ruined monkey bars. "You wouldn't remember anything, Robin, because your Beast took control and suppressed your conscious mind," Sin said.

"Wait! If I did try then…oh, God! Starfire! Is she alright?" Robin panicked.

"She's fine. She is a bit shaken from what she saw you do. You tried to bite her, but we arrived in time to stop you," Sin said.

Robin ran over to Starfire. "Starfire, I'm so sorry!" Robin said.

Starfire backed away from his approach. She stared at Robin with fearful eyes. "S-Stay away from me!"

"But, Starfire, I didn't mean—!" Robin tried to say, but he was cut off by Starfire.

"No! You-you killed Fang! Then you killed Kitten!" Starfire screamed.

"I-I killed them!?" Robin said in total shock.

He looked at Fang's mangled body, and then he saw Kitten lying on the ground moment less. "I couldn't have—no!" Robin fell to his knees clutching his head. "I don't remember doing it!" Robin cried.

"…Robin," Raven whispered.

Robin reached out a hand to Starfire. "Please, Star, forgive me!" Robin grieved.

Starfire flew up into the air, cringing in terror.

"No! You are not the same Robin who I fell in love with. He died on that day in the warehouse! I-I lost him forever. You're nothing but a-a…monster!" Starfire cried. She covered her face and flew away back to the Tower.

Robin stared at the red streak in the night moving as fast as it could away from him. "…A monster," Robin whispered ever so quiet.

Raven went to Robin and kneeled down next to him. She wanted to comfort him, but she didn't know how Robin would react. "Robin," Raven said softly.

"I killed them, Raven," Robin said. He stared at his blood-covered hands. "I killed them with these hands," Robin wept.

"You didn't kill anyone," Sin said, walking over to Kitten.

"W-What?" Robin uttered, jerking his head up to him.

Sin kneeled down on one knee next to Kitten. He picked up her wrist and felt for her pulse. "You didn't drain her dry. Her pulse is weak, but she'll survive. So will that spider freak over there. You mangled him up pretty good, but you didn't rupture any major organs. He'll be in a hospital or whatever is appropriate for this freak for some time, but he'll live too," Sin said.

"Thank goodness!" Robin sighed.

"You were very fortunate, Robin," Sin said.

"Fortunate! Fortunate!" Robin yelled then. He jumped to his feet and ran right at Sin.

"Robin!" Raven said in worry.

Robin ran at Sin with a raised fist. He punched Sin in the face. The force of Robin's blow didn't hurt Sin, but he refrained from lashing back at Robin. Robin continued punching Sin with furious strikes. Sin's ribs broke from the blows and he felt his guts being torn asunder, but he never moved to stop Robin, until he exhausted himself. Robin stopped hitting Sin and fell to his knees. He rested his head on Sin's already healed body and started crying. His tears were still normal, but a little blood leaked out with them. He cried all over Sin's bloodied shirt.

"I've lost her forever," Robin cried.

Sin wrapped his arms around Robin's shoulders. He held Robin like a father would his own son. "I…I didn't mean for you to lose her," Sin said.

"Why did you do this to me…?" Robin whimpered.

"Because, you were the one, the one I have been waiting ages for," Sin replied softly.

"Huh?" Robin said.

"I have lived for centuries, Robin, and in that time I have never made a child of darkness, because the signs were never right," Sin said.

"What signs?" Robin asked.

"The signs that show when a Nosferatu can create a new Nosferatu. The signs usually appear for a Nosferatu after three hundred years, but I have lived past that. I never saw the signs for me to raise my own child. The signs are different for each one of our kind, Robin. Only the specific Nosferatu can recognize them. I have waited for centuries for my chance to make a Nosferatu. I was beginning to think I'd never be able to raise a child of darkness. I've been so lonely for all my years. Every time I think I've found happiness, it's taken away from me." Sin tightened his arms around Robin, as if he was afraid Robin was going to disappear on him. "Then one night, I saw you, Robin, in your Red X costume. I was curious when I felt your aura. The determination you had to take down Slade was overwhelming. That determination caught my interest. I followed you every night after you quit being Red X. I watched you as Slade forced you to become his apprentice. I wasn't sure then if you were the one, but when you were ready to die along side your friends and be defiant to Slade to the very end! I knew you were the one, but the signs didn't appear. So I waited until the moon finally gave me the sign I've been waiting for ages."

"And it was on the night you told Starfire your feelings, when the moon shone its red light on you and I saw the makings of a Nosferatu in you. I wanted to talk to you right then and there, but you were still too young. I wanted to wait just a bit longer until you grew to a reasonable age. Then I would offer you the gift, but fate chose it to be that night in the warehouse. I feared losing my only chance to change you. I had to act fast. I wanted to change Starfire for you so you two could be together forever, but the sign was only for you…and one other." Sin glanced at Raven, but only for a second. "If I tried to change her, she would have died from the transformation. I can't ask for your forgiveness, Robin. I can't make up any excuse to ease the pain your heart is in now, but I want you to understand that I wanted you to be happy, nothing more" Sin said sadly.

Robin felt something wet fall on top of his head. He looked up and saw something Sin has never done since Cynthia died…he was crying. Blood tears were leaking from Sin's crimson eyes. Robin saw the painful sorrow and love swimming in Sin's soul through those bleeding eyes.

"Sin," Robin said quietly.

Sin gently pushed Robin away. "I'll clean up this mess. You need to take Raven back to the Tower," Sin said. Sin picked up Kitten and Fang. A void of darkness opened up behind him. "For what it's worth, Robin, I'm…I'm…sorry," Sin said, vanishing into the void.

A/N: I think this is a good spot to end this chapter. What? You all though Robin and Raven were going to get together in this chapter! Sorry friends, but love is something you can't rush, but don't worry. The next chapter will be when Robin and Raven fall in love, including two others. I think you know who I'm talking about Kokuryu. If any of you want to read the next chapter, send more reviews and some to SHINAGAMI VIRUS's story.

'Robin, my Houkounin'

If you have already, then great. Till next chapter. See ya!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans just this story.

A/N: Amazing I've gotten over 200 reviews with this story alone. I'm glad you like it so much. Well, this is the chapter you all have been waiting for. Robin realizes his and Raven's feelings for one another. Even Starfire finds love from someone which I think you all can guess who! This chapter contains some vampire lemon, so I hope you enjoy it. But I caution those that dislike reading lemon material, or is too young for that matter to read them to skip that part, entirely. There, I've given my warning, so if you choice not to heed it, I can't do anything more.

…So no one can say I didn't!

 **Shaded Feelings Revealed**

Starfire returned to the Tower and entered through the roof door. She flew down to her room and locked the door behind her. She fell on the edge of her bed weeping in her arms. A veil of darkness appeared in her room next to her. Sin stepped out alone; he just delivered Kitten and Fang to a nearby hospital. He went to find Starfire after he dropped them off. He eyed her coldly when he saw her crying on her bed.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Sin growled.

Starfire quickly turned her head to face Sin. "H-How did you get in here?"

"I can get into any place I want!" Sin stated, narrowing his eyes dangerously at her.

"Get o-out of here! This is my room, I wish to be alone," Starfire said.

"Not until we have a little chat," Sin said, taking a step towards her.

"Don't come near me!" Starfire shrieked.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Sin grunted dryly.

"How do I know you won't?" Starfire replied.

"Because, Princess, if I wanted to hurt you I'd have already done so!" Sin said, eyeing her evilly.

"Then what do you wish to speak to me about?" Starfire asked.

"You should know the answer to that one. I'm here to talk to you about Robin!" Sin hissed.

Starfire turned her face away from Sin. She felt tears building back up in her eyes.

"I thought you Tamaraneans saw the goodness in everything," Sin said bluntly.

"I don't know, Sin, I'm so confused!" Starfire said.

"No, that's not it! You're a coward!" Sin sneered.

"I'm…I'm—!" Starfire tried to say she wasn't, but she stopped herself. "I can't help it, Sin, when I see Robin or you. Something inside me tells me to run away!" Starfire confessed.

Sin brushed his bangs back and sighed. "It's normal for some people. I guess even aliens have it; it's like a sixth sense that warns them of a threat. This sense isn't a bad thing to have, Starfire. Not all of my kind is as _'good-natured'_ as I am, but it is confusing for someone who doesn't understand it. Humph! It's my own fault for not telling you sooner," Sin said dryly.

"What can I do to you fix it?" Starfire asked desperately.

"You can't. It's a part of you like your soul. It will always be there and it's too late to fix the damage that has been done!" Sin said.

"What damage?" Starfire asked.

"Don't you fucking know what you did!? You ran out on Robin when he needed you most! His love for you was all he had to bear with what he has become!" Sin roared, baring his fangs.

"AHHH!" Starfire screamed. She flew off her bed and backed against a corner near her window. "I didn't mean to! When Robin killed Kitten and Fang I-I couldn't take it anymore!" Starfire cried sadly.

Sin turned his face away from her, trying to calm down. "Robin didn't kill them," Sin informed.

"You-you mean they are still alive!" Starfire said.

"Yes," Sin said, nodding his head slightly.

"Oh, what have I done, Sin!" Starfire wept.

"Well, first off you shattered Robin's heart. Then instead of helping him you ran off calling him a monster," Sin stated offhandedly.

This statement made Starfire cry even harder. She brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Sin rested his hands on his hips and dropped his head and sighed resignedly. He walked over to Starfire, and sat down next to her on the floor. He pulled out a red handkerchief from a pocket in his jacket and handed it to her.

"Here," Sin said wryly.

Starfire looked at the handkerchief and took it. "Thank you," Starfire said. She wiped her eyes and blew her nose on the handkerchief, and then handed it back to Sin; he just stared at it and looked up at her.

"Keep it," Sin said, waving his hand for her to take it away.

"Thank you again," Starfire said.

"No problem," Sin replied. They sat there in a long silence. Sin glanced around at the room's décor in that time, finding all the pink an eye sore. "Who decorated this room? It looks like a Barbie convention in here…"

"I did…" Starfire said meekly.

"Oh!...Sorry!" Sin apologized.

"Heh! It is alright," Starfire giggled, smiling slightly.

"Oh, good! I made you laugh, and I made you smile. Two points for me," Sin said, licking a finger and making two black lines in the air that danced then faded away.

"I have made a horrible misconception of you, Sin," Starfire said.

"Everyone makes that mistake with me. Then again, I don't really try making people think otherwise," Sin said, chuckling lightly.

Starfire rested her burning forehead on his cold shoulder, finding the material of his jacket quite comfortable. "This has been a terrible night."

"I agree," Sin added, resting his head on top of hers. They sat like this for five quiet minutes.

"What can we do now, Sin?" Starfire asked, breaking the silence.

"Nothing, I'm afraid. All we can hope for is that fate is kind to us," Sin sighed. He suddenly glanced at the door and smiled wickedly.

"Heh! And it would seem fate has smiled down on you tonight," Sin said.

"Huh?" Starfire said, looking up at Sin.

"Speedy is walking down the hallway! Heh, Heh!" Sin informed her.

"Speedy? Oh no! I don't want him to see me in such a mess," Starfire squeaked. She flew to her dresser and started fixing herself up.

"Ha, Ha! You're quick to switch moods!" Sin snickered.

Starfire stopped fixing herself and turned to face him. "Oh, I'm a horrible person, Sin!" Starfire moaned.

"Normally, I'd agree when someone says that, but it's alright, Starfire. Life is a mysterious thing to comprehend. We are all affected by the events that we are force to deal with. One thing leads to another, we may not understand why it happens, but it happens for a reason we just cannot explain why. Just promise me one thing, Starfire," Sin said.

"Yes?" Starfire said.

"Remain as Robin's friend, he'll still need your love and support," Sin said, vanishing from the room.

"I will," Starfire whispered. She finished fixing herself and floated to her door and unlocked it. She stepped out into the hallway just as Speedy walked by her door. They collided into each other, and Speedy landed on top of Starfire.

"Oh, Starfire! I'm so sorry!" Speedy said. He looked down at Starfire and realized what kind of position he was in. His whole face turned crimson red. "I, Ur…" Speedy stumbled.

Her cheeks burned scarlet by feeling his body so close. "Speedy, you are quite heavy," Starfire stated softly.

"Huh? Oh, sorry!" Speedy said, getting off her and helping her back up. Speedy rubbed the back of his head shyly. "Uh, w-where's Robin?"

"I left him…at the park," Starfire said quietly, turning her back to him.

Speedy looked at Starfire in confusion. It wasn't until then did he notice Starfire's shredded clothes. "Oh, God! Starfire, are you alright?!" Speedy exclaimed worriedly. He walked around to face her, and he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Did Robin do this to you? If he did I swear I—!" Before Speedy could finish, Starfire wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her face on his chest.

"No, Robin didn't do this to me," Starfire answered with the same soft tone.

Speedy was too shocked to say anything, flabbergasted that she was leaning on him and hugging his body. Slowly, he put his arms around Starfire. He cleared his dry throat, so he could talk again. "Then what happened to you?" Speedy asked.

"We-we were attacked by Kitten, and her boyfriend Fang. Kitted used Killer Moth's new moths to try and kill us. She set the moths after me when I tried to get a remote she was using to control the moths. Robin tried to go after the remote, but Fang wounded him badly. He just kept stabbing Robin over and over in his stomach!" Starfire said. "Oh, X'Hal…it was horrible to see."

"Shit! Is Robin alright?" Speedy asked with deep concern.

"Yes, he is fine," Starfire replied, averting her eyes from him.

"But you said he was stabbed repeatedly in the gut!" Speedy awed in horror.

"Robin lost control, and his body healed itself. He ripped off two of Fangs legs and broke his ribs, and then impaled him with his Bo staff. Then he went after Kitted…and bit her. Speedy, it was so horrible! Robin tried to bite me, but Sin and Raven showed up and stopped him," Starfire said.

"Humph! At least that freak did something right," Speedy said.

"Sin is not a freak. He can feel emotions just like you and I," Starfire stated. "…Even if he isn't like us."

"I seriously doubt that," Speedy said sarcastically.

"He can, Speedy," Starfire said firmly.

"What makes you so sure?" Speedy asked.

"I saw a deep sorrow in his eyes. I saw him crying, even if he was crying blood, he can still cry when he feels sad. He cares for Robin more then I can imagine," Starfire replied, gazing up at him.

"You sound like you care how that vampire feels, Starfire. I thought you hated him…" Speedy said.

"No, I never hated him. I just didn't understand him or what he really was," Starfire sighed heavily. She buried her face in his left shoulder and started crying again. "I am a horrible person, Speedy," she wept.

"What on earth makes you say that?" Speedy said, placing his right hand on the back of her head.

"I ran out on Robin, thinking he killed them! I ran away when he needed me most!" Starfire cried.

"Did Robin kill them?" Speedy asked worriedly.

"No, Sin told me he didn't," Starfire replied.

"Sin! When did he tell you this?" Speedy solicited heatedly.

"Just a few minutes ago," Starfire said.

"Is he gone?" Speedy wondered, looking around as if expecting to see the grinning vampire nearby.

"Yes, he left when you came to my door," Starfire said.

"Was he the one who did this to you?!" Speedy said more heatedly.

"No, listen to me, Speedy! They didn't do anything to me!" Starfire almost shouted, getting frustrated.

"Okay, okay! I get it! Please, calm down, Star, I'm just really worried you got hurt," Speedy said with concern, holding her closer to him.

"Really?" Starfire gazed harder into his masked eyes.

"Really. If anything ever happened to you...I don't know what I would do," Speedy admitted, his voice heavy with emotions.

Starfire smiled warmly. "You care about me that much?"

"I know you love Robin, but yes, I do care for you. More than anything I've ever cared for in my life," Speedy said.

"I do love Robin…but I don't love him as much as I have falling in love…with you," Starfire said warmly.

Speedy felt like he was in heaven now. His wish actually came true. Speedy leaned his face so he mouth caught Starfire's lips. He kissed her gently and felt Starfire kiss back. The light kiss soon turned into a deep passionate one. They kissed until the need for air stopped them.

"Did you fall in love with me, because I remind you of Robin?" Speedy inquired slightly derisively.

"No, I fell in love for who you really are, Speedy. For being there when I felt lost and scared. You understood how I felt and cared for me. That's why I fell in love with you," Starfire said, kissing him more passionately. She broke the kiss and started pulling him into her room. She slowly closed and locked the door and everything else was forgotten for the rest of the night…

In the park, Robin was still where he was when Sin left. He sat on his knees remembering the look in Sin's eyes, which were forever burned in his mind along with the emotions that he felt radiating from his Sire. Raven cautiously walked over to Robin. She kneeled behind him and placed her right hand on his back.

"I…I saw a girl in Sin's mind who looked just like you," Robin said out of the blue.

"You saw Cynthia?" Raven inquired, her eyes had widened some.

"You know her?" Robin said.

"Yes, Sin told me about her earlier this evening," Raven replied with a sad tone unbecoming of her usual stoic one.

"Who was she, Raven? Sin was so sad when he thought of her," Robin asked with curiosity.

"She was a girl Sin met a long time ago. She was the first human Sin ever loved. He cared for her like a father. He wanted to make her a Nosferatu, but he couldn't. He loved her too much and I guess, because the signs weren't right," Raven said.

"What happened to her to make Sin feel so sad remembering her," Robin wondered.

"She…She was killed by her neighboring villagers. They hanged her, believing she bewitched a boy to fall in love with her," Raven said.

"Now I understand why he was so desperate to change me. He didn't want to lose me like he lost Cynthia," Robin said. He started rubbing his right eye. Raven noticed him doing this and walked on her knees to his side.

"What's wrong?" Raven asked.

"My eye hurts for some reason," Robin told her, rubbing it more.

"Here let me look at it," Raven said.

Robin moved his hand away and she looked at his right eye. There was blood dripping out of the corner of his eye. She looked closer and saw his right eye was slightly purple around the iris. She wondered if that was normal for him, being undead and all, but as it seemed to just make his eye itchy, she figured it was fine for now.

"It looks irritated, but not too bad," Raven informed him.

Robin wasn't really paying any attention. He was staring deeply into her eyes, getting lost in the dark intelligent looking amethyst orbs. He liked how they glimmered in the moonlit night. He immediately looked down out of shame as that thought ran through his mind. He had just lost Starfire and now here he was checking out Raven. What kind of person had he become since his transformation? When he looked down he saw Raven was covered in blood, his self-loathing was quickly forgotten and fear rose up in his heart.

"Oh, God! Did I attack you to, Raven?!" Robin said worriedly.

Raven looked down at herself and saw his reason for panic. It strangely made her feel happy seeing him act so worried he hurt her. "No, you didn't do this to me. Some vampire hunters Slade tipped off attacked Sin and me before we came here." Recalling the incident made her rub the spot the crossbow huntress had shot her on her arm unconsciously.

"Slade!" Robin growled.

He hated Slade now more then he ever did before. It was one thing for Slade to try something dirty on him, but to it to Raven infuriated him to no end. His right eye began glowing again, forcing him to close it when feeling something started hurting it. He waited until the pain subsided and opened his eyes to see Raven was looking at him, full of concern. He looked back at her blood soaked legs and gently touched the soft part of flesh where the woman shot her with the second arrow. When Robin touched her, she turned red all over. The feel of his cool glove made butterflies flutter in her stomach.

"How did this happen?" Robin asked tenderly, running his thumb over the spot.

"O-One of the hunters shot me with a crossbow," Raven said, trying to speak with her monotone voice, but it came out soft and unsteady.

"Why would they attack you, Raven?" Robin wondered aloud.

Raven turned her face away from him. Her hood slid over her eyes, hiding the shame in her eyes from him. She held herself in her arms, rocking slightly from the bitter sadness building up inside her. "B-Because they realized I'm not human," Raven said sadly. The ruined monkey bars turned black and twisted even more out of shape. "Sin protected me and took an arrow in the chest meant for my head. When they attacked me, Sin got very angry and killed them all."

Robin removed her hood, much to her displeasure, and placed his right hand on the side of her face, but that part she decided she liked. He gently turned her face to look at him. He saw in her eyes the bitter sadness and pain she was feeling, and it grieved him greatly to see her in such pain. "Raven, there is no reason to be ashamed of what you are."

"How could you know how it feels to know you're not human?! To always be treated differently, because your blood isn't pure!" Raven snapped by accident at him, her feelings were running loose in her and it was getting harder to keep them under check.

Robin choked out a chuckle and grinned at her. "I think I have a pretty good ides what it's like, Raven," Robin said. He pulled her into his arms slowly and wrapped his arms around her.

When he embraced Raven all her defenses shattered. Her emotions blazed out of control. She wrapped her arms around him and cried alongside his head, pouring out all the bitterness that had been strangling her heart for so many years. Soon, everything around them turned black. The swing set shot out of the ground and twisted into a pretzel. The trees twisted until they snapped and splintered. Robin, the whole time, was bombarded by all of Raven's emotions at once. He felt her sadness for being only half-human. He felt the burning anger she had for her father. He felt the hidden love she kept locked away for him all these years. He held her tighter and stroked her back as he replayed that last part over and over in his head. The signs had been there when he thought back to the times he saved her, went to her for consul with Terra or tough situations that he needed a second opinion on, to seeing her growing out her hair in hopes that it might make her look more attractive to him, and then to when she mysteriously started shelling herself away from everyone one right after he announced to the team he was dating Starfire. It all made since now and how he wanted to bash his head in for on cluing in sooner.

"I'm such an idiot," Robin groaned.

Raven got a hold of her emotions and tried to stop crying. "Why call yourself an idiot?" Raven asked.

"Because, here I thought I lost my true love when all this time you have been before I even realized," Robin answered, raising a hand to place on the back of her head and petting her long hair.

"What about Starfire then? I thought she meant everything to you," Raven said a little sardonically.

"At one time she did…but I've been fooling myself. I knew Starfire and I were slowly distancing ourselves. When we were together there was always something I couldn't tell that didn't feel right. Sin opened my eyes to what it was. That night we danced that feeling wasn't there, it felt so right being with you." He then remembered what he saw when he was dreaming while he was turned. "Raven, there's something I need to tell you,"

"You do?" Raven muttered, looking at him with puzzled, teary eyes.

"Yes, when I changed I had a dream. In that dream I was surrounded by blood and darkness. I ran and ran, trying to find everyone, but I couldn't. I almost gave up trying…then Starfire showed up. She tried to help me up, but when I reached out to her…s-she called me a monster," Robin said.

"She did? What did you do after she did?" Raven asked.

"I tried telling her I was the same Robin, but nothing I said convinced her. When I touched her she burst into flames. I wept tears of blood and looked at my reflection in the blood. It was me, but at the same time it wasn't. It called me a monster and laughed at me. I didn't believe it. I smashed at it until I got tired, then another voice spoke out to me, saying I was a monster. I was covered from head to toe in blood after it finished talking and shadows burned there way into my mind. I finally lost all hope. I was ready to die, Raven; I didn't care about living anymore. It was when I was ready to waste away…that you came to me," Robin said.

"M-Me?" Raven gasped.

"Yes, you told me to get up, and I did. I was so afraid you were going to run away from me too, but you didn't! You weren't scared at all of what I've become. You pulled me out of the darkness and into a tunnel of light. You were there when I needed someone the most and here you are now. Raven, I'm so sorry for never noticing you sooner!" Robin grieved.

"How could you? Starfire always had all your attention, and I was too afraid to open up. I lost all hope of ever opening up to you when you and Starfire got together. How could a demon spawn like me ever have a chance against someone as pure as Starfire," Raven grieved, too.

"Stop it, Raven, don't talk about yourself that way!" Robin said.

"But I am, Robin, no matter how much I want to be normal. I'll never be like everyone else," Raven said.

"You are normal, Raven, you've still got some human in you. Look at me. I'll never be human again. All that's left of me is a blood sucking monster!" Robin said.

"You're not a monster, Robin; a monster is something that has no heart. You still have a heart and you have friends that care for you. I…I care for you and I don't care what you are or might become later on. I'm not afraid of you, because I know deep down you are still the boy blunder…I love," Raven stated, her voice cracked with raw feelings and her eyes blazed with those feelings.

Robin stared into them lovingly, berating himself inwardly for never noticing them. "I am an idiot!" Robin said again and leaned close to her and kissed her.

Raven froze when Robin kissed her. No one has ever kissed her before.

 _'...My first kiss,'_ Raven thought in awe as he kissed her.

The feel of his surprisingly warm lips made her quiver in delight. She closed her eyes and deepened the kiss. Soon, it became more heated. Raven felt his tongue lick her bottom lip a few things and guessed at what he was asking her for. She acknowledged him and opened her mouth, letting his tongue explore her mouth where no one had ever trespassed. She pushed her tongue into his mouth and felt around, finding he tasted of copper from the blood still lingering in his mouth and faintly sweet. She was careful to avoid his fangs, wishing to keep her first kiss pure and without pain. Robin ran his right hand through her hair, letting her know that he did indeed like its length with his fingers running from her scalp to its end. He took a chance and placed his other hand on her hip. He didn't feel Raven object to being touched, and he started moving his hand lower, testing the limits he was allowed to go. Her body language was very receptive to his boldness instead of being defensive. She ran her hands through his hair and moved her hips to press more of herself against the exploring hand. To the spirits that watched over her, had she prayed to them so many times to make this dream come true, and thanking them all for giving it to her. Pressing her body against his in the heat of the moment, she felt his heart beating in the same rhythm as hers against her chest. His body began heating up to match her burning up body, too.

Raven felt a wildfire growing deep inside her, nagging her for more. Robin appeared to notice the heat in her body as he pulled her closer to his, wanting to feel more of her warmth. He pulled her even closer and this caused them to rub their hips together. Raven could tell Robin was getting excited at that moment by the bulge building up in his pants. She could feel herself getting wet between her legs from the heated embrace they were in and ached at her for to do what she had wanted for so long. She broke the kiss and pushed Robin back slightly. Robin stared at Raven in confusion.

"What is it?" Robin said.

"Not here, Robin, we need a bit more privacy," Raven said, looking at him mischievously.

Raven's shadow form surrounded them, and she teleported them to her room. It was probably wrong for them to jump ahead to this, but Raven had had these feelings for so long for Robin and now, she had him and she wasn't going to waste anymore time and beat around the bush for want she was aching for.

She pushed him on her bed and crawled on top of him. She lunged at his mouth and kissed him again hungrily. Robin removed her cloak while she worked on removing his jacket and chest plate. He stopped kissing her long enough to take off his belts and armguards. He then pulled off his gloves and ripped his own shirt off. He struggled to get his boots off and throw them across the room. Raven threw off her belt and bracelets and boots. She tried to take off her leotard, but Robin beat her to it. He ripped the top off by grabbing the front of it with his hands, exposing pale firmed breasts with dark nipples that were already hard. She laid back and let him explore all her curves. He ran his hands all over her body with one hand, massaging her left breast with the other, while he caught her other breast in his mouth. He teased her by licking her hard nipple with his tongue and pinching them with his fingers.

He bit her nipple and twisted it, hearing her groan loudly. She pulled his head closer to her breast, moaning with pleasure as he worked it more in his wet mouth. He kissed her breast and started a trail of feather kisses down to her stomach. He ripped off the rest of her torn leotard with his teeth when he reached the remains of it keeping him away from her lovely flesh, learning she had a black thong on under the leotard. He positioned himself between her legs and started kissing her inner thigh. Raven moaned and massaged her left breast as she watched him down there, feeling herself grow wetter with the anticipation of what was to come. He got a taste of some the lingering blood on her leg that had rolled down to her thigh. He was surprised by how powerful it tasted and it made him want to taste more. With his tongue, he ran it all over her leg, licking up all the sweet blood off it and rolling it around in his mouth when enough was pooled in it, savoring it as one would a fine and rare wine, then swallowed it heartily. Moving his face up to where her legs met, he locked his crimson eyes on the damp thong that blocked him from seeing her most intimate of places. Fixing this quickly, he pushed the flimsy material aside and found her hair really was naturally purple. He smiled at that and moved his mouth to tease her by running his fangs over her moist folds, making her buck her hips some and moan his name huskily. He licked the nectar leaking out of her wet center. He slid his tongue deep in her, drinking all the nectar that he could reach. Raven moan louder from the immense pleasure running through her body, having never had someone do this to her before; it was driving her wild in a way she never knew possible.

Raven felt a pressure building up inside and was alarmed by it. She didn't want to cum too soon, she wanted to make this last as long as she could. Robin must have read her mind, because he stopped tongue fucking her and crawled on top of her. She rolled him over so she was on top, kissing him deeply and ran her fingernails on his chest. Robin moan deeply in his throat and grinded his groin over her sensitized groin. She stopped kissing leaving redlines as they went on him and started licking his chest and ran her tongue over his scar and his nipple, making him moan and stroke her long hair. She got off him and pulled off his pants, relieving him of some of the tension from his aching member. She then reached inside the flap of his boxers and started stroking his hard shaft, amazed at how it felt pulsing in her hand, and how soft it felt as it was so rock hard at the same moment.

"What do you want, my pet?" Raven asked teasingly, giving his member a meaningful stroke.

Robin groaned and sat up. "I want you!"

"Beg for it!" Raven said. "Tell me how you want me…"

"Please, Raven…" Robin said, moaning louder, a bit hesitant to ask what he really wanted from her.

Sensing his hesitance, she stroked him harder. "You can tell me, whatever it is…I'll do it for you."

Feeling she really meant what she said, he conceded. "I want to be inside you…I want to make you feel joy like you've never known it before."

Raven didn't waste another moment; she removed his boxers and got on top of him. She eased herself down on his throbbing rod. Pain shot through her then as his member ripped her virginal wall apart, forcing a brief scream from her. The pain quickly vanished, much to her great relief, making so having him in her burst with untold bliss. She slowly moved her hips up and down on him experimentally, and bucked over once as a mass of sensation rocked her body. Robin held her up and complied by moving his hips with hers in a rhythm that matched the pace she was trying to go.

"Go faster, Robin! Don't worry about hurting me!" Raven moaned, wanting him to do more to her, as she was too racked up by the pleasure to move her body much.

Robin did as he was told and moved faster with his hips. His eyes landed on her neck, and leaned over to her neck and kissed it lovingly. He felt his hunger building up and his fangs itched at the anticipation of biting the tender looking flesh. Robin opened his mouth and inched his fangs to her neck. Then stopped. He tried to pull away from her neck, but Raven pulled his head back to her neck.

"Go ahead, Robin, I don't mind," Raven whispered in his ear.

"No, I could hurt you real badly if I did," Robin protested.

"I don't mind, really! I want all of you, Robin," Raven moaned huskily, licking his earlobe.

To make up his mind for him, Raven tilted her head aside, exposing more of her neck to him. Robin pulled her closer to him, crushing their chests together, and put his mouth over her neck and bit down. Instantly, her blood washed into his mouth and down his throat, which almost blew his top from the orgasmic sensation her blood coaxed in him. Her blood tasted better than anything he's ever tasted! It flowed easily into his mouth and tasted so pure and powerful. It coated his stomach nice and smoothly and filled his veins with energy that not even Sin's blood ever produced in him. He drank from her in a slow steady pace; he wanted to enjoy every drop of her blood, it was too precious for him to waste a drop. They found this to have increased their pleasure tenfold, especially for Raven, who was panting and moaning out his name so sexually it made him growl and ram harder inside her.

Both of them moaned and groaned as they came closer to climax. Robin stopped drinking from her when he sensed it'd be too dangerous for him to continue on, licking her wound until it stopped bleeding. Robin grabbed her hips then and motioned her to go faster. She complied and moved them faster and angled herself by aching her back more, so he'd go deeper inside her, and then she felt his pulsing member begin to twitch, signaling he was about to come. He held it back as best he could for her sake, wishing for them both to reach that point together. He was thankful that wait wasn't long as her walls began constricting around him, signaling her own breaking point. With one last thrust they both reached climax at the same time. Robin lied back on the bed and Raven moved off of him and snuggled up against him. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her closer to him. Raven rested her head on his still chest; she didn't mind her lover wasn't breathing, she was too happy to care about anything, except finally being in his strong arms.

"I love you, Raven," Robin said meaningfully.

"I love you too, my dark Boy Wonder," Raven replied back affectionately, sounding so blissfully content.

Robin kissed the top of her head and they both soon fell asleep.

Across Jump city, down in a hidden room under Crimson Desires, a wicked laughter rang out from Sin's private chamber. Sin lied in his coffin, laughing darkly. He closed his link to Robin, letting the Boy Wonder have his privacy with Raven.

"Have fun my little birds. You have all eternity to love one another! _AHAHAHAHA._ Robin is becoming an excellent Nosferatu! I wonder what kind Raven will make…Heh, Heh! _HAHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled.

A/N: All right! This is the start of a whole new life for Robin and Raven. Their adventure together into the dark world of vampires has begun. There will be challenges ahead for our favorite pair. Raven begins to show her human side and Robin learns to become a powerful Nosferatu. Will being under Sin's influence bring them to damnation, or will it change them into true rulers of the night. Review and tell me what you think.


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans just Sin and this story.

A/N: Sorry, it took so long to update, but I had computer problems again, and again, and again! I'm dedicating this chapter to a friend of mine. Cat, this chapter is for you! I hope you like this chapter. There's something I want to make clear, so I don't get anymore of these kinds of reviews. Yes, I know Nosferatu isn't the correct term for vampires, but I just wanted to do something a little bit different with this story. It just seemed too plain just to call Sin a vampire. So that's way I refer to him and Robin as a Nosferatu. If you read 'The Vampire Book' you'll find where I got the information for Nosferatu. So before you accuse me of false information. Do me a favor do some studying and remember this important rule. When a writer writes a story like this. He can do anything he wants as long as he explains it well to his readers. One more thing I want to clear up. Raven is NOT a vampire, if you remember it takes the sharing of blood through their hearts to make them vampires in this story. Okay, now that I got that off my chest this chapter does contain some more lemon. Heh, heh! Enjoy!

 **Scarlet Symphony**

Raven slept most of the day in bed with Robin. Even when he stopped moving when the sun came up. She slept on, feeling happiness for the first time. Her emotion Happiness was smiling brightly in her mind, looking happier than normal. Normally, Raven would make Happiness go away when she was like this, but this time she was glad to see her happy representation. All Raven cared for was to stay where she was forever, swimming in the warm feeling in her as she dose in and out of consciousness. Every time Raven woke up and saw Robin with her, she'd smile and snuggle closer to him. A bit after noontime Raven woke up from hunger. She felt very weak. It must be from all the blood she lost last night she concluded. She gently touched the bite mark on her neck and smiled dreamingly.

The bite mark felt a little sore, but it was slowly fading away. Raven wanted to stay in bed and wait for Robin to wake up, but her stomach rebelled against her. She reluctantly left the security of Robin's arms and got off the bed and took a quick shower. She dried herself off and put on a new leotard and cloak and fresh pair of boots. She picked up the rest of her cloths that survived last night and threw them into her laundry basket. She threw away her old ruin leotard in her trash bin, and then went over to her bed and kissed Robin's forehead. She sat on the edge of her bed, watching her lover sleep, just so happy to see him lying there on her bed. But soon she noticed her room was really dark. She instantly remembered not closing her curtains last night. Raven looked at her window and found the curtains pulled over it. She knew Robin didn't close them because he never left the bed once the sun came up, and she knew she hadn't, but if neither of them closed the curtains, then who?

Someone must have come into her room and closed them, that was the only explanation. She immediately felt very embarrassed that someone came into her room, and most likely seen her and Robin sleeping together, naked! _'Crap! Too late to worry about it now, but when I find out whoever came into my room. I'm going to blast them all the way to the moon!'_ Raven thought coldly.

She pulled the sheets over Robin and left the room and headed for the kitchen. As she walked down the hallway she smelled a delicious aroma hanging in the air. The smell got stronger as she neared the kitchen. When she entered the common room she glanced at the kitchen. Raven's jaw immediately dropped and her eyes widened as she stared in total disbelief at what she was seeing.

She saw Sin at the stove, cooking!

He was wearing a deep red buttoned shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He had three buttons undone, exposing his collarbone and top of his smooth chest. He still wore all his belts and his leather pants, and his plated boots. His hair and his bangs were pulled back in a tighter ponytail to keep his hair out of his way while he cooked. She noticed that without the bangs hanging over his face, he looked less threatening. His face appeared more slender and soft. His jaw-line looked the same, but his cheekbones were a bit more noticeable. Before she stepped into the kitchen, Sin turned his head to the side with that devilish grin on his face.

"Good afternoon, sleepy head!" Sin said.

"Sin? What are you doing up while it's daylight outside! Don't you need to be hiding somewhere safe from the sun?" Raven said worriedly.

Sin shrugged his shoulders and returned to his cooking. "Nope!"

"I thought you slept in a deep sleep like Robin?" Raven stated.

"I'm old, Raven. Only young Nosferatu like Robin fall in a deep sleep. A mature Nosferatu like myself can choose when to sleep. And even then we're not really asleep, I am aware of everything that happens around me when I rest," Sin said.

"What about the sun then? You can't tell me you're immune to sunlight, because you almost got burnt to a crisp last night," Raven said, walking to the counter, starting up her kettle.

"Those hunters were using a high concentration of Ultra-Violet lights. If I wasn't as strong as I am now those lights would have killed me instantly, but they didn't. I'm old and strong enough to go out during daylight hours with a little help from a complex ointment some wise humans made a while back," Sin said.

Raven rolled her eyes at Sin, and said dryly, "Sunscreen."

"Lots of it!" Sin said, grinning wider.

"Ah," Raven said, leaning on the counter. As she waited for her tea she looked at the counter by the stove. Lying on the counter were juicy looking steaks and herbal seasonings.

"Why are you cooking?" Raven asked curiously.

"You need to build your blood back up. Some good red meat is just the key," Sin answered.

Raven turned beet red all over. She wrapped her cloak around her and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Umm…w-why do you think I-I need to build my blood back up?" Raven asked very nervously.

Sin glanced at her with a blank expression. "You did lose quite a bit of blood when that bitch shot you last night. What, did you do something else last night?" Sin said, eyeing her playfully.

"N-No!" Raven quickly said.

"All right," Sin said, chuckling deeply.

He returned to his cooking, grabbing the herbal seasoning and sprinkling some of it over the sizzling steaks. Raven checked her kettle and made her tea. She sipped from her cup watching Sin cook. At some point, she glanced down at all his belts and looked closer at them for the first time and noticed each belt had a role of Glyphs written in blood red; and each belt had a different set of Glyphs on it. She finished her tea quickly and put her cup down on the counter.

"Sin," Raven said, not taking her eyes off his belts.

"Yes, Raven?" Sin replied.

"Why do you where so many belts, and what are those symbols on them?" Raven asked.

Sin chuckled deeply in his throat. "Each Nosferatu has a personal item they wear to signify themselves. Mine as you can see are belts," he said, turning over the steaks.

"But why?" Raven asked.

"I wear them because they represent a part of what I was when I was a human. The Glyphs are physical representation of my powers. Each one has a purpose of helping me channel and amplify my powers," Sin said, putting the cooked steaks on a clean plate, and putting some fresh steaks on to cook. "There are some people who'd do anything to get their greedy hands on these belts." He smiled wickedly at that.

"Are they that powerful?" Raven said astonished.

"No, all they really do is untap the hidden power inside someone and make it possible for whoever wears them to access and control their powers," Sin said, turning the steaks.

Raven stared in wonder at Sin's belts. Sin felt her eyes on his belts and turned to face her. "You want to try them?" Sin offered.

Raven looked up at Sin and slowly nodded.

Sin chuckled and waved a hand to her, and said, "Come here."

Raven walked over and stood in front of Sin. Sin unlatched three buckles and they all came off. He put the belts around her waist and buckled them, then stepped back from her and admired how they looked on her thin frame. "Not too bad. Now, laugh out loud for me, Raven," Sin instructed.

"What? No, if I do that my powers will destroy something!" Raven warned.

"Trust me," Sin said reassuringly.

Raven wasn't too sure, but she decided to do it. She let go of her emotions and tried to laugh. She tried very hard to laugh, but nothing came out. "I can't laugh, Sin, I don't do laughing very much," Raven said, giving up.

Sin widened his grin into a mischievous smile and kneeled down in front of her. "Oh, I'm sure you can," Sin said mischievously. He reached out quickly and started tickling Raven's exposed ribs.

Raven burst out laughing and tried in vain to protect her ribs. Sin kept finding a new place to tickle when she tried to protect herself, until she started crying from laughing so hard. He sat up then and stepped away from her, ending her delightful torture. Raven stopped laughing and wiped her eyes with her cloak. She took several deep breaths and calmed down, during which she felt a tingling energy current on her left hip. She looked down and saw one of the belts' Glyphs were glowing bright red. Raven looked around and found nothing broken or melted.

"Nothing happened! I laughed and nothing happened!" Raven said, totally astonished.

"Yes, the belts contain any energy the person doesn't want to use. It keeps the energy from being wasted and harmful to anyone, until you direct it otherwise," Sin explained further, grinning more.

"I…I could be normal with these! I'd never have to worry about my powers ever destroying anything ever again!" Raven said happily. It was a strange new feeling for her. She could express her feelings and nothing would get hurt for it…it was freedom from her cursed bloodline.

"That won't teach you anything, Raven," Sin grunted.

"What do you mean?" Raven said.

Sin bent down and took off the belts. "You will never truly learn to control your powers if you rely on these," Sin said, putting his belts back on.

Raven lowered her head sadly and turned her face away from Sin.

"But if you want, Raven, I can make you your own belt to help control your powers. Provided you don't rely on it all the time," Sin said, smiling down at her.

Raven looked at him and without thinking wrapped her arms around and hugged him. "…Thank you, Sin, it would mean the world to me," Raven said.

Sin looked down awkwardly at Raven. No one had hugged him so affectionately for so long. He didn't know how to react except stand there stiffly. Slowly though, he wrapped his arms around her and smiled, but this smile wasn't wicked or evil, it was a plain normal smile.

"If it means that much to you, then I'll make you one tonight," Sin said.

"I can't thank you enough, Sin!" Raven said.

"Just to see you smile happily without worry or fear is enough thanks for me," Sin said softly. He held her for a minute, and then slowly broke the warm embrace. He returned to his cooking with his devilish grin back on his face. "Raven, could you set the table. Your friends are coming, and I think they will want to eat as well," Sin said.

"Beast Boy doesn't eat meat, and I don't think Wildebeest does either," Raven said, getting the plates and silverware.

"I know. I made them a salad and some vegetarian burgers," Sin said.

Raven looked at Sin with a puzzled look. She was about to ask why he was cooking for all of them, when he said, "I got bored waiting for you to wake up."

"How long have you been here?" Raven asked.

"Since dawn," Sin replied, putting the cooked steaks on the plate.

Raven remembered someone going into her room then and looked at Sin very nervously. "Uh, Sin? U-Umm, did you by any chance come into my room when we-I was sleeping," Raven asked nervously.

"Yes, I did. You two forgot to close your curtains. So I thought I'd do it for you," Sin said, flashing Raven a knowing smile.

"Then you saw Robin and I sleeping together!" Raven said, blushing crimson red.

"If I didn't, you'd have woken up to find our Boy Wonder a pile of dust. I didn't think either of us wanted that," Sin stated.

"Well…no," Raven mumbled, feeling so embarrassed.

"Raven, I'm very old and mature." He tilted his head back and chuckled. "Well, most of the time _, Ha, ha, ha, ha_! I'm not the kind to embarrass you, because you're sleeping with someone you love, but damn it's tempting!" Sin said, sighing deeply.

Raven grumbled loudly as she set the table.

Sin looked his shoulder, and said, "Be glad it was me and not one the others."

Raven nodded her head solemnly, understanding it probably was better it was only Sin, and not one of the others; they'd never let her forget if they found her with Robin, especially Beast Boy. With that thought in mind, she silently forgave Sin and set the plates and silverware. Sin placed the food and the table. He waved his hand and a small black hole opened up on the table. A bottle of red wine rose out of the hole, and the hole disappeared. Sin placed four wineglasses next to the bottle.

"A little red wine helps the blood, too," Sin stated matter-of-factly. He walked by Raven and accidentally brushed a hand on Raven's arm. She felt his cold skin and shivered all over, and it raised a question in her mind.

"Sin, how is it that you feel so cold, but Robin feels warm?" Raven asked.

"Robin was touching you when he felt warm to you, right?" Sin said.

"Y-Yes," Raven said.

"The warmth from your body heated his blood," Sin said.

"I don't think I understand," Raven said.

Sin unbuttoned his shirt halfway and took Raven's right hand. He gently placed her hand on his motionless bare chest. His cold skin almost made her hand go numb. She couldn't feel anything with her hand, until she felt his heart beat. The heart beat very slowly, moreso than Robin's, almost close to where someone would think he didn't have a heart beat. But just as she thought that, she felt his heart begin to beat faster, and his chest began warming up to a normal person's temperature.

"Our bodies react to a living person's body warmth or when we just fed. It makes us seem more alive. Kind of like when a chameleon changes colors," Sin said, letting go of Raven's hand and buttoning his shirt back up.

"How can your heart beat if you don't breathe?" Raven asked.

"I'm not really sure. The blood is the only thing keeping our bodies close to being alive. I think, because of that our bodies anatomy makes it possible for our hearts to beat without oxygen," Sin said.

He picked up the wine bottle and uncorked it with his teeth. He spat the cork out and it went flying across the room…and nailed an unsuspecting Speedy right between the eyes as he walked into the room. Speedy yelled in pain and fell on his rear.

 _'Heh! Bull's-eye!'_ Sin thought, chuckling wickedly.

Speedy quickly got to his feet and glared around the room. He looked down to see the cork lying between his feet, and then looked up and saw Sin pouring wine in a wineglass.

"You!" Speedy yelled.

Sin looked at Speedy with an innocent expression. "What?"

"You hit me with that cork, didn't you?!" Speedy accused.

"You should have ducked then," Sin said simply, giving the glass to Raven.

Speedy was about to give Sin a piece of his mind, when Beast Boy ran into the room, staring and pointing a finger at Sin.

"Dude!" He's up during day time!" Beast Boy blurted out.

Everyone else entered and stared at Sin in amazement.

Sin looked down at himself. "What? Do I have something on me?"

"Yo, man, I thought you couldn't walk around during the day," Cyborg inquired.

"Shows what you know, doesn't it!" Sin snickered.

Cyborg opened his mouth to yell at Sin, until he smelt the steaks on the table. Cyborg looked at the delicious steak and immediately forgot his anger and ran to a seat. He started drooling and helped himself to one of the steaks.

"WOW! These look great! Who cooked these perfect pieces of meat?" Cyborg asked out loud.

Raven tapped Cyborg's metallic shoulder. He looked up at Raven and saw her pointing a finger at Sin, who was grinning at him amusedly. Cyborg gulped and looked at his steak worriedly. Sin suddenly appeared behind Cyborg and rested his hands on his broad metal shoulders.

"Go ahead, Cyborg, they're not poisonous!" Two tendrils of darkness picked a knife and fork. They cut a small piece of steak and used the fork to bring it to Cyborg's face. " _Heh, Heh, Heh_! It's perfectly safe, Cyborg, just your ordinary meat you can get at any grocery store. Trust me!" Sin whispered darkly in Cyborg's human ear. The tendril brought it closer to Cyborg's mouth. "Open wide!" Sin said.

Cyborg barely opened his mouth, and the tendril shoved the piece of meat in his mouth. Everyone gasped, except Sin and Raven. They waited to see if Cyborg was going to spit it out or die from poisoning. Cyborg chewed on the meat and his eyes sparkled. He chewed the meat and swallowed it with a smile on his face.

"Damn! That's the best piece of meat I've ever tasted!" Cyborg said, snatching the fork and knife, he starting cutting another piece of meat.

Sin looked at the others with an amused expression. "You better hurry up before he eats all the food."

The others sat down in their seats and helped themselves.

"Cool! Wine!" Beast Boy said, reaching for the bottle.

Sin quickly snatched it away from Beast Boy. "Sorry, that's not for you," Sin said, picking up another wineglass. He poured some wine in it and placed it next to Starfire. He took the third wineglass and poured himself a glass and put the bottle down out of Beast Boy's reach.

"Vintage year is eighteen ninety-two, not much alcohol in it, but enough to send a nice warm rush through your blood," Sin said, taking a sip from the glass.

Raven took a sip from hers. Sin was right; the moment she drank the wine, a warm wave ran through her veins. She took a piece of steak and placed it on her plate, then cut a piece off and took a bite. The steak was juicy and chewy. The herbal seasoning Sin used made it taste deliciously great. Raven ate the steak and felt all her energy come back with each bite. Everyone complemented Sin how great the steaks were, except Beast Boy and Wildebeest. They toyed with their salad and vegetarian burgers. While everyone ate the Titans, except Raven and Starfire, stared at Sin when he started eating some steak.

"Yo, I thought vampires had only a liquid diet?" Cyborg gawked.

"Most of the time, but we can eat normal food when we want to, but we need blood to digest anything," Sin said, eating a piece of steak.

Starfire took a sip from her wineglass and giggled. "This beverage makes my whole body feel all tingly!" Starfire cooed.

"Dude, why do the girls get to drink some and the rest of us can't?" Beast Boy demanded.

"They both had a busy night," was all Sin said, glaring at Beast Boy.

Both girls blushed and Beast Boy concentrated on his burger, but through the meal, Beast Boy just stared at Sin and Cyborg as they eat their steaks.

"Cannibals," Beast Boy grumbled.

Both Sin and Cyborg looked at Beast Boy and flashed him huge toothy smiles simultaneously. After Cyborg finished his third steak he started chatting with Sin, as did everyone else, save for Speedy. The archer felt confused when they all did. When everyone first met Sin they all either was scared or didn't like him. Now, they're all treating him like their best pal.

 _'He's doing something to them. I know he is! I just got to figure out what?'_ Speedy thought.

"How about just being nice. Ever think of that, Speedy, or is the thought of someone like me acting nice too hard for that thick head of yours to comprehend?" Sin said in reply to his thought, looking at Speedy mockingly.

Speedy sat up and started reaching his bow, until Starfire placed a hand on his arm. "Please, be calm, Speedy. I am sure Sin did not mean to offend you," Starfire said.

"I'll bet," Speedy growled under his breath. He sat back in his seat, looking at Cyborg. "Cyborg, a minute ago you thought Sin was a crazy laughing freak. What's with the sudden change?" Speedy asked.

"When I found out he can cook a mean piece of steak! If a guy can cook this good, then he can't be all bad," Cyborg said, helping himself to another steak.

The rest of the meal went by peacefully. Cyborg talked to Sin about how he cooked the steaks. Sin gladly explained his method to Cyborg. Everyone, except Raven, started chatting lightly among themselves. Just as everyone was talking, the sun slowly descended into an orange horizon and Robin awoke. He found himself alone in bed. He figured Raven must have left to mediate. Last night was very emotional for them all on a number of levels. He got off the bed and put on his pants. He surprisingly didn't feel the need to feed. He thought it was probably because of all the blood he had last night. He quickly picked up the rest of his clothes and silently snuck out of Raven's room and went to his own room. There, he grabbed a new black spandex shirt and went to the bathroom to clean himself.

Robin took a quick steamy shower and wrapped a towel around his waist once he stepped out of the shower. He moved to the mirror and wiped the steam off of it and started combing his hair. Slowly, though, he stopped brushing his hair when he noticed something peculiar about his right now. Looking closer at his reflection, he stared worriedly at his right eye. The entire white of the eye was slightly red. The iris had now become a dark purple.

 _'How did this happen? Hmm, I definitely need to talk to Sin about this. I hope there isn't anything wrong,'_ Robin thought worriedly. He quickly got dressed and headed to the common room. Entering, he sniffed the air and smelt the food coming from the kitchen. Robin walked in to find everyone there, eating, and having a good time.

"Ah! Robin! About time you woke up! Cyborg almost ate all the food on you," Sin said, pouring some wine in the fourth wineglass for Robin.

Raven turned to face Robin and smiled slightly. Her powers reacted to her happiness and the wine bottle exploded in Sin's hand, soaking him and Cyborg with red wine. Sin licked his lips and looked at Raven.

"So much for the wine." He looked down at himself and wiped his hand on his wet shirt. "So much for this shirt!" Sin added, laughing his head off.

Raven blushed furiously and pulled her hood on, hiding her moment of redness. Beast Boy was laughing and pointing at Cyborg's irritated expression. The others tried hard not to laugh, but they couldn't help themselves. They all laughed with Sin and Beast Boy. Robin sat next to Raven, as she took the full wineglass her powers, and fixed him a plate of food before Cyborg grabbed what was left of it.

"Thanks Raven," Robin said, cutting a piece of steak. Robin was about to take a bite when he noticed Beast Boy staring at him. "What?"

"Robin! What happened to your eye, dude?" Beast Boy gaped, still gawking at Robin's eye.

"Uh? I don't really know?" Robin answered, rubbing just under his right eye.

Sin got up and walked over to Robin. He raised his chin up to look at him and examined his eye and smiled wickedly.

"What's wrong with my eye, Sin?" Robin asked.

"Just a result of having the Evil Eye. Nothing too much to worry about," Sin informed him.

"Evil Eye! Oh no! Robin's got the Evil Eye! Uh…what's an Evil Eye?" Beast Boy asked, looking at Sin confusedly.

"It is a rare gift among the living and the Undead. The Evil Eye takes all the negative energy inside someone and turns it into a very lethal weapon! It concentrates all the negative energy in the eye and shoots a dark energy beam out of the eye, destroying anything in its sight," Sin said, eyeing Beast Boy evilly.

"D-Dude! That's wicked!" Beast Boy said nervously.

"Extremely wicked! Especially if you're ever on the receiving end of it," Sin purred darkly, making Beast Boy turn pale green.

"How did I get this thing?" Robin asked.

"It could be a number of things. No one really knows how they get it. They just do!" Sin replied.

"How come I have it now and not before last night? I mean, what caused me to have it now?" Robin asked, rubbing the corner of his right eye slightly.

"Personally, I think you always had it, Robin. I believe when I turned you into a child of darkness, it awoken it. Your Beast knew it was there and used it to defend you from Fang and Kitten," Sin said, walking back to his seat.

"Whoa! Hold up, Fang and Kitten? What exactly happened last night?" Cyborg said.

Robin, Raven, and Starfire told the others what happened last night, except they left out the part of what happened after Starfire flew back to the Tower. They all stared at Sin and Robin in bewilderment.

"Did you really kill all those hunter guys, Sin?" Beast Boy asked.

Sin narrowed his eyes at everyone, and said, "I'm a predator, Beast Boy, if I, or someone I care for is threatened I'll do anything it takes," Sin said coldly.

"What did you do with the bodies?" Speedy said suspiciously.

"None of your concern, Speedy," Sin said darkly, a cold chilling feeling spread around the room.

"So, Sin, is Robin getting the Evil Eye much like when I had my transformation and got my eyebeams?" Starfire said quickly, wishing to change the subject for everyone's comfort.

Sin immediately ginned and looked at Starfire amusedly. "In a way, but a bit more deadly," Sin replied.

"How so?" Cyborg asked.

"The energy the eye uses is so powerful, it can kill a living person with one shot if it's direct at any major organ," Sin said, watching Starfire as she cringed with fright.

"So, as long as Robin doesn't aim at any major organs and just at a limb or something the person will be fine, right?" Speedy deduced.

"Yes, but then the limb would be blown off completely," Sin said, chuckling darkly.

"Ouch!" Speedy cringed.

"Very much so, yes!" Sin said.

"As if having an instinct that takes control of me wasn't enough! Now, I got an eye that kills anything," Robin sighed.

"This is something you can easily control, Robin," Sin said.

"How?" Robin asked.

"Using the Evil Eye from what I know causes the user much pain. Just having the power build up in the eye causes it to hurt. You can easily stop yourself from using it when it begins to hurt," Sin said.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better!" Robin grunted.

"Better then nothing, at least," Sin replied.

Starfire finished her meal and sat up. She placed a hand on Speedy's shoulders and smiled pleasantly.

"Shall we leave and go on our date, Speedy!" the redhead said innocently.

Speedy felt fear cinch his heart. He instantly looked at a glaring Robin. Robin glared at where Starfire's hand was, but he turned his face away slowly and concentrated on sipping his wine.

"You don't waste any time, do you, princess!" Sin snickered, looking at them amusedly.

"Umm, Robin, I better explain this shouldn't I-I…" Speedy said, but was cut off when Robin raised a hand.

"Just make sure you make her happy, Speedy. If you make her cry for any reason I'll use you as target practice with this eye!" Robin said darkly. To enforce his warning Robin's eye glowed slightly, causing a very irritating itchy feeling in his eye. Robin blinked a few times and it went away quickly.

"I promise I'll never make her cry," Speedy said determinedly, getting out of his seat. He and Starfire quickly left the room.

Robin glanced at Sin, acting like nothing really important happened. "So, Sin, are we going to continue training tonight?" Robin asked.

"No, you've learned enough to control your abilities. We're going to start a new kind of training…but not tonight. Last night was a bit of an ordeal for you two." He glanced for a second at Raven. "I believe you two might wish to spend some time alone tonight," Sin said, winking at Robin.

"Thanks, Sin," Robin said, and sat up from his seat.

Sin gestured with his left hand for Robin to come to him. He obliged and walked over to him. When Robin stood next to him, Sin waved a finger for him to even come closer. Robin leaned near Sin's face and Sin whispered something in his ear. Whatever it was, it made Robin blush slightly. He might have blushed more, but he didn't have enough blood in him to make that possible.

Sin leaned away and patted Robin's cheek. "Have fun tonight!" Sin teased.

Robin quickly went to over to Raven and she got out of her seat. They both made a hasty exit, not looking back at the others confused faces.

"Okay…what just happened?" Beast Boy asked, no one in particular.

"Starfire just went on a date with Speedy, and Robin just left with Raven," Cyborg said, not believing it himself.

"Who would have seen that coming?" Hotshot said.

Sin cleared his throat. They all looked at him simultaneously.

"Don't tell us you knew all along!?" Cyborg said.

"There is hardly anything hidden from me, boys. Everything is going as it should be for them. There is only one thing that needs to be done," Sin said.

"Robin's training, right?" Beast Boy surmised.

"There's that, but that isn't it," Sin said, beginning a bone chilling laughter, then was surrounded by darkness and disappeared, leaving his laughter behind to chill the boys down to their cores.

"That guy really creeps me out when he does that!" Beast Boy admitted.

"Me, too," Cyborg agreed, nodding his head.

Robin and Raven went to the roof. There, they sat on the edge watching the clear night sky. Raven inched closer to Robin and rested her head on his shoulder. Robin put one arm around her waist and rested his hand on her hip.

"I've dreamt about this for so long. I thought none of this would ever come true," Raven admitted to him.

"I guess dreams do come true," Robin said. He looked at the moon and start laughing.

"What's so funny?" Raven asked, looking up at him.

"I thought being a vampire would be hard to live with, but now I see it's the best thing that has ever happened to me!" Robin said.

"What changed your mind?" Raven asked.

"Sin. If I hadn't become a Nosferatu, then I'd never be with you. I thought I knew what love was, but I didn't. It wasn't until that crazy vampire finally knocked some sense into me!" Robin said.

"Who'd have believed it," Raven said, smirking at him.

"Aww, come on now! It's not that unbelievable!" Sin said from the background.

Robin and Raven turned their heads behind them. There was Sin, sitting right over the doorway.

"Sin! Don't do that!" Robin yelled.

"Sorry! I couldn't resist!" Sin chuckled.

"Didn't you say you'd let Robin and I have some time alone tonight?" Raven reminded, sounding irritated.

"I did, but I didn't say when, did I?" Sin snickered, winking at Raven.

"Stupid vampire," Raven growled.

"Heh! Grumpy witch," Sin shot back.

"If you're going to act like this, then can you please do it someplace else?" Robin growled his annoyance.

"All in due time, my impatient Robin. You two have all night to do it," Sin said, lying down on his side on top of the roof of the exit.

Both Titans blushed in embarrassment. "Just because we're together now doesn't mean we're going to make out every chance we get." Robin protested.

"Oh! Then what exactly were you two planning on doing tonight then?" Sin asked, grinning devilishly at Robin.

"Ur?" Robin stumbled, looking at Raven for help. Raven just shrugged her shoulders, not knowing either.

Sin started laughing manically at the two. He stood up and waved his left hand in the air. A violin and a bow appeared in his hand. He positioned the violin on his left shoulder and readied the bow with his right hand. He rested his chin on the violin, checking the strings and the bow.

"How about I get things started, hmm?" Sin offered.

He placed the bow on the strings and began to play. He played a slow haunting note that danced through the night. Strangely, it sounded relaxing to Robin and Raven. Sin played the unknown symphony with his violin, making it shriek with a tantalizing sound that made both Titans want to move with it. Robin sat up and extended his right hand to Raven, feeling her need to move with the music, too.

"Want to dance?" Robin asked with an affectionate smile.

Raven nodded and took his hand. Robin helped her to her feet and they began a slow waltz. Sin watched them as they danced as he played, but soon, he closed his eyes, letting himself get lost with his music.

Robin leaned his face to Raven's left ear. "You want to try something fun?" he whispered mischievously

"Uh? I guess so," Raven said, feeling nervous by his tone.

Robin led her to the edge of the roof, still dancing.

"Do you trust me, Raven?" Robin asked.

"I trust you," Raven said meaningfully.

Robin smirked and tightened his grip on Raven. She felt a weird feeling go through her body then. It made her slightly lightheaded.

"Here we go!" Robin said, taking a step off the edge.

"Robin! Wait!" Raven yelled.

Before she could use her words to save Robin. He put his stretched out foot on the side of the tower. He pulled Raven with him as he put his other foot and the side of the Tower, and he stood there laughing at Raven's shocked expression when she realized they weren't falling, holding her close to him so she wouldn't fall. She dangled in his arms looking at his feet, and then down at the ground.

"Put your feet on the wall, Raven," Robin instructed.

"Huh?" Raven said, staring at him bewildered. She chose to listen to him and cautiously placed her right foot on the wall and found friction there. She placed her other foot on the wall and found she was staying on the wall. She looked at Robin in total astonishment. "How are we doing this?"

"We can walk on walls and ceilings like anyone can on the ground. Sin taught me to let other people do it, so along as I have a hold on them," Robin said, giving her a cocky smile.

"Cool," Raven said.

Robin led her back into a waltz, and they danced on the windows past the common room. The boys were playing video games when they saw Robin and Raven dancing on the outside of the window. All four boys stared out the window completely bug-eyed.

"Dude, are my eyes playing tricks, or did I just see Robin and Raven dancing on the window," Beast Boy said, looking confused.

"Yup!" Was all the other boys could say.

Robin and Raven danced under the right T section of the tower. They danced until the violin music suddenly disappeared.

"You think Sin finally left?" Robin wondered.

"I think so. Uh, Robin, can we stop? The bloods rushing to my head," Raven informed, feeling too much pressure build in her head.

"As you wish!" Robin said with a wicked look in his eyes.

"Wait, Robin, what are yo—!"

Robin kicked off the Tower and they plummeted to the ground below. Robin flipped in the air, and he pulled Raven tighter to his chest. The rate they were falling started to slow down, strangely. Raven stared at Robin in amazement.

"You can fly now?" Raven gawked in amazement.

"More like float. Sin taught me to make my body light so I can slow down when I fall," Robin said. They touched down on the ground silently. Robin still held Raven in his arms.

"Let's stay in tonight. Lately, when we go out something bad happens," Raven said, and she leaned in closer to Robin's ear. "And I'm curious to know what else Sin taught you," she whispered.

Raven's soulself enveloped them, and they teleported back to her room.

"Ahh! Where it all started again," Robin joked.

Raven nipped at Robin's earlobe. Robin moaned pleasurably and rubbed her back. Raven let go of his ear and started kissing his jaw line to his mouth. Robin turned his head so his lips brushed hers. He kissed her deeply and rubbed one hand on the back of her neck. He stopped kissing her when he felt she needed air. The kiss left Raven lightheaded and shivering all over. Robin quickly undressed, leaving only his pants on. Raven started removing her cloak and her accessories. She kicked off her boots and threw them by the bed. Before she could take off her leotard Robin scooped off her feet and jumped on the bed. He laid her down gently and kissed her passionately. He pulled her leotard down to just below her breasts, strapping her arms tightly to her sides. He looked broke the kiss then and looked and her body hungrily. Raven leaned her head to the side, knowing what he wanted to do.

"Bite me," Raven whispered playfully.

Robin grinned and brought his mouth to her neck. He landed feather kisses all along her exposed neck. Raven moaned and rubbed her groin on Robin's right leg. He licked the bite mark he made last night, making Raven quiver in delight. He bit into her neck and sucked hard, at first, as the blood flowed into his mouth, slowing it down some once he had the wound opened enough. Raven cringed from the pain, but only for half a second. The pain quickly turned into an unimaginable pleasure running through her body and got lost in that sensation. Her blood filled Robin's stomach and settled into a warm ball, radiating warmth all through his body. Robin stopped drinking and bit the tip of his tongue with his fang. He dipped a bit of his blood over the wound and the wound on Raven's neck vanished. There wasn't a trace of where Robin's fangs sank into her pale skin.

"What did you do?" Raven asked.

"I used my blood to heal my bite mark," Robin said.

"Is that safe?" Raven said worriedly.

"Yes, it's perfectly safe if I used a little bit of my blood on a wound," Robin said.

He leaned into another kiss with Raven before his tongue healed. Raven got a taste of Robin's blood and her own blood and found it exciting. She lightly sucked on his tongue, until it healed itself and when all the metallic taste was gone. Robin pulled away from the kiss and started kissing her collarbone. Raven wiggled her arms free and pushed Robin on his back. She ran her hands on his bare chest down to his the line of his pants. She felt Robin's excitement grow underneath her then. She pulled his pants off and threw them off the bed and turned her attention to Robin's erect member. She grabbed it with one hand and moved her hand up and down his shaft, stroking his member hard. Robin threw his head back and moaned her name.

"Mmm…oh, yeah," Robin moaned.

Raven licked the tip of his member and brought her mouth down on it. She licked her tongue all over the head, sucking up all the juices licking out of the tip, not as tasty as the blood, but it had its own flavor that wasn't too bad to her. She moved her head up and down, sucking harder, taking as much of him in her mouth as she could. Robin moved his hips a little with Raven. Soon, his seed exploded in her mouth and let out a groan of pleasure. Raven kept sucking and swallowing all of it until it was all gone. Robin sat up. He grabbed Raven leotard and motioned for her to lie down. She did as he wanted and he slid her leotard off. Once her last bit of clothing was gone, she wrapped her legs around his waist. She sat up, bringing her breast up to Robin's face. He pulled Raven closer to him and played with her harden right nipple with his tongue. He caressed her other breast with his right hand. Raven ran her hands in Robin's hair, saying his name over and over. Robin playfully nipped at her breast, but accidentally drew blood just above her nipple.

"Sorry, Raven I—!"

Before he could finish, Raven pulled his mouth on her bleeding breast. Robin took her invitation and licked away all the blood and suckled on the nipple, until it stopped bleeding. As he licked the wound she felt him growing stiff again. She laid down parting her legs for Robin. Robin got on all fours over Raven and rubbed the tip of his member over her wet entrance.

"I want you, Robin, badly!" Raven moaned.

"How badly?" Robin teased, sliding slightly inside her.

"Please, Robin, I need you now," Raven moaned louder.

Robin pushed all the way into Raven and quickly pulled out.

"Oh, god, Robin, Do me! Do me, now! I can't stand it!" Raven panted, inching her groin toward Robin's.

"Tell me you to fuck you, hard!" Robin said, rubbing his shaft along her sensitive area.

"Fuck me, hard, Robin," Raven moaned, panting from her need.

Robin slid back into her and she cried out to him as he thrust into her. He moved every inch of himself into her hot core.

"Harder!" Raven cried then.

Robin started moving his hips with inhuman speed. It brought Raven to orgasm quickly. She arched her back and rubbed her breast together as the orgasm rode over her body. Robin kept up his speed, making Raven reach orgasm three times in a row. She panted heavily, trying to breathe.

"St-Stop, Robin…I can't-I can't breath!" Raven said breathlessly.

Robin stopped moving his hips, keeping his member still in her. Raven slowly managed to breathe normally.

"Are you all right now?" Robin asked with concern.

Yes…I'm fine, now," Raven said, rubbing his chest.

Robin returned to thrusting into Raven, but in a normal speed. He kept this up for a good fifteen minutes before they felt themselves coming close to another climax. He tried to hold it back as long as he could, but the pressure grew too much for him. He cried Raven's name as they climax together and he dropped down next to her. She wrapped her arms around Robin and snuggled in his now heated body. He slowly stroked Raven's hair and noticed her hair had a faint smell of lavender in it. Robin buried his face in her hair to smell more of that lovely scent. Raven quickly fell asleep from exhaustion. Robin held her in his arms all night. He just watched her as she slept. Later on Robin felt himself fall into a deep sleep.

"I love you with all my heart," Robin whispered, as sleep claimed him.

Raven snuggled closer to her motionless lover, having awoken some just as he fell asleep. "I'll always watch you over you when you sleep," Raven murmured sleepily.

A/N: What do you guys think? Please review and tell me it's good alright. Thanks! I hope you all enjoyed it, because this is the longest chapter I've ever written! See ya till next update!


	15. Chapter 15

Disclaimer: I hate these disclaimers, but I don't want to get sued for using the Teen Titans. I only own the story and Sin.

A/N: Thank you all for your patience for this chapter. I'd also like to thank you all for the reviews. They really motivate me to hurry up with these updates…*hint, hint* More reviews more chapters! This chapter was inspired to me by a review from MoonFairy. If your reading this, I want to say thank you and I hope you like it.

 **Sins of the Father**

Raven woke up around noon time again. She crawled sluggishly out of bed. After she double checked the curtains she took a quick shower. She put on a clean outfit and walked back to the bed. She pulled the sheets over Robin and left her room. She walked halfway down the hallway when she suddenly stopped. Something strange happened in her mind. She quickly went back to her room and went to her mirror and glanced into it. She saw everything as it should be. All her emotions were where they were supposed to be, but she didn't stop looking at anger, until she was sure it wasn't up to anything. It was her main emotion that caused her the most trouble. When she felt sure nothing was wrong, she put the mirror down and left her room. As she left, two pairs of red eyes appeared in her mirror. They blinked once and vanished.

Raven went to the kitchen. There, she found Cyborg cooking up some food.

"Yo, Raven, have a nice night?" Cyborg said, way too cheerfully.

"Y-Yeah," Raven replied, looking at her mechanical friend nervously.

Beast Boy came into the kitchen, giving Raven a goofy smile. "I bet you had a great time last time!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raven growled, glaring at him.

Beast Boy giggled and pointed at the T.V. Raven glanced and turned beet red. There was a huge hole where the T.V. used to be.

"What happened to the T.V.?" Raven asked, already guessing what happened to it.

"Well, first the screen cracked, and then it started jumping up and down, sparking. The screen exploded, smoking up the whole living room just after we heard a faint scream, and it flew out the window," Cyborg said, trying to keep a straight face.

Raven turned red all over. She quickly made herself some tea. Once she finished drinking her tea she left the kitchen, not looking either of the snickering boys behind her. She went to the roof and began mediating. Near evening time as the sun began setting, Robin awoke. He awoke to a strange feeling moving around inside him. It made his whole body feel like he just stepped out of a hot shower. He got out of bed and dressed himself. He felt a heavy weight pushing at him from outside. Curious as to what was causing this heaviness, he went to the window. Without thinking, Robin opened the curtains and the light of the sun poured all over him.

Robin cringed with fear and raised his arms to protect himself. His sensitive eyes hurt from the blinding light, but nothing else was happening to him. He expected to feel the light burning him away, but he didn't.

' _What is going on? Sin said the sun would kill me instantly,'_ Robin thought in confusion.

He felt the warm embrace of the sun like he remembered it. He looked at his hands, expecting to see smoke rising from them…again, nothing. The sunlight was hurting his eyes too much though. He closed the curtains and went to his own room. He looked around for the pair of sunglasses Sin gave him. He found them lying on his table and looked out his window and didn't feel his eyes hurting anymore. He moved his hand through the rays waiting to see if it would start burning. He waited twenty minutes of direct sunlight for anything to happen.

' _I definitely think Sin needs to know about this,'_ Robin thought. He couldn't figure out why the sun wasn't hurting him. He decided worrying about it wouldn't help anything. He'd wait until Sin came back, and he'd talk to him about this feeling.

Robin left his room and went to the common room. Everyone, except Raven, was there watching an action movie on the new T.V. Cyborg put up. They all were sitting on the couch eating junk food. Robin saw there was a car chase going on in the movie and then a wicked idea popped in his head at that moment. They all thought he was still sleeping…He smiled mischievously. He easily snuck up behind them, waiting for the right moment. He took in a deep breath and held it. The car in the movie was being chased by another car, with some guys with machine guns. The car weaved through traffic, but not good enough. The guys with the machines managed to shoot out one of the tires. The car lost control and started hitting the cars around it. The driver was able to jump out onto the side of the highway after losing control, but the car was hit by a truck and flung off the highway. When the car crashed into some more cars and exploded Robin yelled, " _ **BOOOOOOM!**_ " at the top of his lungs.

Everyone screamed. Beast Boy turned into a lizard and clung to the ceiling, shaking in fright. Starfire jumped into Speedy's lap. Wildebeest jumped and accidentally landed on Hotshot. Cyborg was on the ground, covering his head. Robin fell on the floor, rolling with laughter. Beast Boy dropped down from the ceiling and changed back into his human form. He stared at the laughing young Nosferatu dumbfounded. Everyone got up and stared in bewilderment at him.

"Robin? You're awoke, dude, but the sun is still up! How come you're not like smoking or bursting into flames?" Beast Boy wondered, waving his arms around franticly.

Robin stopped laughing and got off the floor. "Heh, I don't know? I just woke up and when the sunlight hit me, nothing happened."

"We did see Sin walking around when it was day time yesterday," Starfire said.

"Yeah, but he's stronger than Robin and he was wearing sun block, too," Speedy reminded her, crossing his arms.

"Maybe it's that eye thingy of yours, Robin," Beast Boy suggested.

"I don't think so…I feel it's only for killing, not protection," Robin said, rubbing the corner of his right eye.

"Whatever it is, man, you better go tell Raven about this," Cyborg said, winking his human eye.

"You're right!" Robin said. He ran out of the common room, without another word. He moved so fast it seemed like he just disappeared in front of the others.

"Whoa…uh, did anyone see Robin move?" Beast Boy asked, looking around.

"No," They all said in unison.

Robin ran up the stairs and out of the door to the roof. He scanned the roof and saw Raven mediating at her usual spot. He quietly jumped into the air and floated down next to her.

"Hi, Raven," Robin whispered in her ear.

Raven lost her focus and fell on her rear. She looked up at him, seeing him laughing. Robin was really beginning to like catching everyone by surprise. Raven quickly got back up and tried covering Robin with her cloak.

"What are you thinking, Robin? The sun will kill you if you don't get away from it now!" Raven yelled at him.

"It's okay, Raven, sunlight doesn't hurt me," Robin said with a grin.

"How is that possible?" Raven gaped.

Robin shrugged, "No idea? I woke up feeling something different inside me."

"What kind of feeling?" Raven asked.

"It's…hard to explain…I feel so warm inside. Like I'm alive again, but I know I'm not, because I still feel…dead," Robin said, placing a hand over his slow beating heart.

"We can't take any chances. We better go down inside before you do start roasting," Raven said, wrapping her left arm around Robin's right arm.

"Okay," Robin agreed.

They went back to the common room. All the Titans had a good time hanging out in the Tower, and were happy that Robin could come back out in the sun again. They sat around watching more movies and eating junk food all day. When night fall came they were still watching movies.

"It's almost ten, why isn't Sin here yet?" Beast Boy asked Robin, shoving a handful of popcorn in his mouth.

"I can never tell. He shows up when he feels like it," Robin replied.

"Could you pass me the popcorn, please?" Sin asked.

"Oh, sure, Sin," Robin said. He got the popcorn bowl from Beast Boy and handed it to him.

"Thank you, Robin," Sin said.

"You're….Sin!" Robin said, looking next to him.

Sin was sitting next to him cross-legged, taking a handful of popcorn. He looked at himself, and said, "Last time I checked I was."

"When did you get here?" Robin asked.

"I've been here for fifteen minutes, but you were too distracted by your movie and stuffing your face to sense me," Sin said.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Sin ate his handful of popcorn and gave the bowl back to Robin. He got off the couch with fluid grace, almost as if his body was pulled by strings.

"You enjoy your movie, Robin. I need to talk to Raven alone. If you will follow me, my dear," he said, walking out of the living room.

Everyone looked at Raven. "What does Dracula want to talk to you about?" Speedy demanded, looking at her suspiciously.

"None of your business, Speedy," Raven said emotionlessly.

She got off the couch and walked calmly after Sin. Once she was in the hallway she quickly levitated next to Sin.

"Did you really make me a belt like yours?" Raven asked eagerly.

"Yes, I put it in your room. I thought you'd still be in there with Robin," He said, winking playfully at her.

"I do still have to mediate to control my powers," Raven said, blushing slightly.

"Heh, heh! With your new belt, you won't need to mediate so much anymore," Sin said.

"Maybe, but I'll still need to in order to tame my powers," Raven said.

Sin looked at Raven admirably. "Good attitude, my dear," he said. He placed his right hand on her shoulder affectionately.

"Umm…Sin, are some Nosferatu immune to sunlight?" Raven asked curiously

"None to my knowledge, Raven. Why did you ask me that?" Sin replied, looking down at her.

"Robin woke up around this afternoon and was walking around in the sunlight without any problems," Raven said.

Sin tightened his hold on Raven's shoulder, halting her in the hallway. "What did you say? Robin shouldn't be able to awake that early for another eleven months. And he should be covered in burn marks right now, if he was walking out in the sun!" Sin said.

Raven looked up and saw confusion in Sin's blood red eyes. "Then how come the sun didn't affect him?" Raven asked, feeling the same as Sin.

He suddenly looked very serious into Raven's eyes. Raven could feel the intensity of his stare. It was very unnerving how hard he was looking at her.

"What's wrong, Sin?" Raven said, very concerned.

He turned his face away from Raven, looking deep in thought now. "Did Robin say anything about how he felt when he woke up this morning?" Sin asked.

"He said he felt alive again, but he still felt….dead, too," Raven answered.

Sin narrowed his eyes, frowning slightly at the corners of his mouth.

"Do you think something's wrong with him? Please, tell me, Sin, is Robin okay?" Raven pleaded, touching his hand.

His serious expression melted away, it was replaced with amusement. "Nothing is wrong with him, Raven. I think nothing will ever be wrong with our boy Wonder again!" He said, breaking out in a wicked laughter. He walked off, leaving Raven in complete bafflement. "Come along, Raven. I want you to try on your belt, and then I'd like to discuss this matter with Robin."

Raven shook her head and hurried after the grinning Nosferatu. They entered her room and she felt that same disturbance in her mind again. She touched her forehead, trying to figure out what was going on. Sin noticed her behavior and cupped her face in his left hand.

"Are you all right, Raven?" Sin asked with real concern.

"I'm not sure. I feel something out of place in my mind, but I can't figure out what," Raven said.

"It might be from Robin drinking your blood. Your body's not used to having so much blood taking out of you. It will pass, Raven. Give your body some time to adjust to it," Sin advised.

"I hope that's all that wrong with me," Raven said.

"I think this will take your mind off it!" Sin said, smiling devilishly.

He went to her dresser where he left the belt, having placed it right next to her special mirror. He glanced at the mysterious object as he reached for the belt. It was giving off a weird power he felt before. It reminded him of something dark and full of hatred, but he couldn't remember when he felt something like that. He shrugged his shoulders and picked up a belt similar to the one Raven had on, but with a few changes. The belt was blue with black jewels around it and in the middle of each jewel was a small red glyph.

He turned to face Raven and held it out to her. Raven gingerly took the belt and admired it. She took off her yellow belt and put her new one on. It fit her just the way she'd like it, hanging on her hips diagonally.

"Sin, it's wonderful!" Raven admired.

"I'm glad you like it but remember, Raven. You must not rely on it for everything. It may be wonderful and exciting to use, but you have to keep working on controlling your own powers," Sin said, admiring himself how the belt looked on her.

"I'll remember not to rely on it too much," Raven replied happily.

She smiled widely and allowed herself to fully feel happy. Sin stood there studying Raven's happiness. She reminded him more and more of Cynthia everyday. Now that she could express herself, he could see she acted just like Cynthia when she was happy. The way she smiled shined with an almost peaceful grace. He had loved that smile; it was so lovely to look at. It made him feel close to being human again to see her smile because of him.

Raven twirled once, giggling slightly, as she let go of her hold on her emotions. The belt's glyphs glowed lightly, keeping her powers in check. She looked up at Sin and saw he was watching her with a soft expression. All his devilish charms were gone. He looked just as she saw in his memories with Cynthia.

"What are you thinking, Sin?" Raven asked, tilting her head slightly, crossing her arms behind her.

At that moment, she looked exactly like Cynthia to Sin. He gasped as his eyes gleamed with pain and a forgotten emotion. Instinctively, he walked up to Raven and touched her face. Sin had fed early before coming to the Tower, so his body was warm like a human's. Raven could remember when she wouldn't let anyone touch her…but the way Sin held her face in his hands felt so comforting.

"Sin, what are thinking about?" Raven asked again.

"I was thinking of the daughter I thought I lost, but you reminded me of her just now," Sin said, speaking with a voice soft as silk. "So much that I would dare say I found my daughter again…"

There was no need for her to hold her feelings now. Raven began to cry and hugged him.

"Raven, why are you crying?" Sin asked with a confused and worried look. He hadn't meant to make her cry, but when he raised her face up, he saw her joyful expression.

"I'm so happy, Sin, I can't hold them back. I've…never had anyone treat me like a daughter. No parents to show me the things I've been missing out on life. Thank you, Sin, for being there when…my father wasn't," Raven revealed to him.

Sin felt so lost in his forgotten emotion. He was about to say something when he suddenly felt a presence. Raven's eyes shot wide open with fright at that same moment. Sin felt her fear and looked into her fearful eyes.

"Raven, what's wrong?" Sin asked.

"He's here!" Raven said. She backed away from Sin. "You have to leave, now! He'll kill you!"

"Who, Raven? Who will kill me?" Sin asked, when he sensed a great evil. Something filled with demonic rage.

"My father…" Raven said. She looked at her mirror and ran to it.

As she approached her mirror, she stopped dead where she was. The weird power Sin sensed earlier was building up inside the mirror. A huge red hand shot out of the mirror and grabbed Raven.

"Raven!" Sin yelled, running to her.

The hand pulled her into the mirror. Sin lunged forward and caught her left ankle and was pulled along with her. They were sucked into Raven's mirror, traveling down a black and red void. Sin was losing his grip on Raven; he tried to hold on, but an unknown force blasted at him and he lost his hold on Raven. He was sent tumbling away into another void.

"Sin!" Raven cried out.

She saw the void disappear around her and looked around to see she was in her mindscape. She tried hard to break free, but the hand had an iron grip on her. She looked up and came face to face with a four eyed demon.

" _ **Hatred will consume you!"**_ Trigon roared.

"Let me go!" Raven demanded.

" _ **No, my daughter, you are forgetting your place! I am your father, and I decide your fate, no one else!"**_ Trigon said.

"My life is mine to decide! You can't make me follow in your path!" Raven declared defiantly.

Trigon tightened his grip, making Raven grunt in pain. _**"Silence, you are my child! My blood runs through your veins, and that same blood will make me stronger!"**_

"W-What?" Raven choked.

" _ **Ha, ha, ha! You have let go of your control of your mind. I have been waiting for you to drop your control. It was the only thing getting in my way, but now I can take control over you. I shall use your womb to create a new body for me!"**_ Trigon said.

"You mean…get me pregnant?!" Raven said horrified.

" _ **Yes, your first born will be the vessel for me to escape this prison!"**_ Trigon said, roaring with laughter.

"You can't make me get pregnant!" Raven yelled angrily.

" _ **I don't have to. Your undead lover will do that for me! I shall use his unholy seed to create a more powerful body for myself!"**_ Trigon said.

"Don't you dare use Robin for your twisted plans!" Raven yelled, eyes glowing white. "Azarth Meitron—

ach!" Trigon squeezed her more to stop her from chanting.

" _ **You are my blood! You are my child! Hatred will consume you!"**_ Trigon roared.

Everything was beginning to go black around her. She felt Trigon begin to take control from her and replace it with his own mind. He would soon have full possession of her if she didn't do something fast, but her strength was leaving her. The darkness was almost completely blocking her vision as her thoughts focused on the last time she would ever be happy…

' _Sin….'_ Raven called out in her mind.

She felt something touch her mind, a familiar presence, and she could almost see it smiling. A void of darkness appeared over her and Sin jump out and sat on Trigon's wrist. He brought his left knee up to his chest and let his other dangle out. The grinning Nosferatu turned his head up to face Trigon with a devilish smile.

"What exactly do you think you are doing to my little girl?" Sin asked coldly.

" _ **Yours? She is mine! My blood runs through every chores of her body. She belongs to me!"**_ Trigon said.

Sin gave Trigon a look of boredom. "Blood, whatever. She might have some of your blood in her, but that doesn't make her yours," Sin said.

" _ **I am here father! I decide the fate of all who belong to me. If you stand in my way, you shall be destroyed!"**_ Trigon declared.

Sin eyes widened with malice. He started laughing madly, making even the great Trigon unnerved.

"You are nothing more than a demon. What powers do you have that make you think you can destroy me?" Sin crackled.

" _ **I am Trigon! The future ruler of all!"**_ Trigon stated.

"Ruler, right….well I'm not going to let you hurt Raven. With that said, you now have two choices, Trigon! We can do this the easy way, or we can do this my way," Sin said, widening his smile.

" _ **You shall be destroyed!"**_ Trigon roared, eyes glowing red.

Sin waved his right arm, and his sword appeared in his hand. "Ok, we'll do this my way then!" Sin snickered. He twirled the sword point down and stabbed Trigon's arm.

Trigon roared with pain and released his hold on Raven. Sin flipped in the air and snatch Raven up in his arms as she fell out of Trigon's hand, his sword was still impaled in Trigon's arm. Sin landed gracefully onto the rocky terrain. He put Raven down on the ground, checking her for injuries, gladden when he found none. Raven groaned loudly and tried breathing through painful lungs. They ached each time she drew breath, but the darkness clouding her vision was disappearing.

"How did you get here? I saw you fall into another void," Raven wheezed.

"I fell into a really weird place. It looked like Starfire's room, pink everywhere and…I shudder to even think about being in a place like that! I was trying to find a way out when I heard you call out to me. I sensed where you were and that's how I got here," Sin said. He stood there talking like there wasn't an eighty foot enraged demon standing behind him.

"We need to get out of here, fast! I can put him back, but I have to be outside to do it," Raven said.

"Why? If this is a representation of your mind, then how can he have any say in it," Sin said.

"Trigon is too powerful. His physical body may be sealed away in another dimension, but his spirit can still move around. Because I'm his daughter he has a direct link to my mind. He's a part of me no matter what I do. The best I can do is block the link," Raven said.

"A link….hmm, any link can to severed. You just have to know where to cut it!" Sin said, extending out his right hand.

His sword glowed black, and it dug deeper into Trigon's arm, slicing through his arm and flying back to Sin's hand. Trigon cradled his bleeding arm, until his demonic powers worked fast to seal the wound.

" _ **You will pay for your insolents! I will devour your being and relish in your screams, as I rip you to pieces,"**_ Trigon said.

"Oooo! You got me shaking in anticipation, demon. Go ahead! Give me your best shot!" Sin said, raising his sword up into a fighting stance in challenge.

Trigon roared and fired his eyebeams at Sin.

He pushed Raven out of the way and just barely dodged the attack. "I'm going to play with four eyes. You find a place to recover, and then we'll deal with cutting his link to you," Sin said, getting back on his feet.

"Sin, no! He's too powerful, you can't possibly fight someone like him," Raven said.

Sin's eyes widened with mad glee. "That makes me want to fight him even more! I haven't fought a powerful foe in such a long time!"

He dashed toward Trigon. He slashed his sword and a black shockwave raced up at Trigon. The attack struck Trigon's left leg, knocking him off balanced. Sin jumped on his right arm and ran up it. Trigon readied to blast Sin, but the vampire moved too quickly, ramming his right knee into the demon's face. Trigon collapsed as Sin jumped off him. Sin roared with mad laughter, slicing at the air in excitement as he gracefully landed on his feet. When Trigon started to get back up, he dashed at him again.

Raven, all the while, was concentrating on summoning all her emotions to help fight Trigon, but something was wrong. None of them was answering to her call.

"What's going on? Why are they ignoring me!" Raven yelled in frustration.

"They're not ignoring you, Raven. They're too weak to come and help you," A soft voice carried by the winds.

"Who said that? Show yourself!" Raven said.

A girl appeared in front of Raven. She knew this was another representation of her, because she looked just like her, but with different color clothes. The emotion was wearing a lavender colored cloak and pink on the inside.

"Hello, Raven, I'm glad to see you again," it said.

"I…I remember you, but I don't know from where. Which of my emotions do you represent?" Raven asked it.

"I'm love. You wouldn't remember me very well, because of your training. You blocked out all your emotion. Me, most of all, for your fear of getting hurt," Love replied.

"Why are you showing up now? Why aren't my other emotions arriving?" Raven asked.

"I am able to appear to you, because you finally allow yourself to feel love. Trigon is using the others to feed his power. The only reason why I am not affected is because of what I represent to you. I'm the embodiment of his complete opposite, love. He can't use me and now that I'm here, he can't use you, Raven" Love answered.

"I'm grateful for the help…but how can love be of any help against him," Raven said skeptically.

Love giggled softly, it filled the air with joy, but at the same time sadness. "Love is a mixture of emotions, Raven. It is much more powerful then you can imagine."

"We have to help Sin. I can't let him fight Trigon alone," Raven said.

Love nodded and they flew towards the battle. Sin was having the time of his life. Every time he knock Trigon down he'd get right back up for him to knock down again. Sin slashed at his ankles and tendons, but every wound he inflicted healed up quickly. Sin began to worry when he was getting tired and saw Trigon wasn't. Trigon continued to rage, blasting his eyebeams at Sin, or trying to stomp him. He was proving to be harder to best by the second.

Trigon was moving faster and his attacks were becoming more fearsome. Sin jumped up, deciding to try and blind Trigon by cutting out his eyes, but Trigon moved faster than how he anticipated and batted him away. Sin crashed into some rocky cliffs. Trigon shot his eyebeams at Sin at the same time he crashed into the cliffs. Before the beams reached him. A black force field covered him. Sin looked around in confusion. Raven and Love levitated up to him.

"Who's your look-alike, Raven?" Sin asked, looking at Love curiously.

"This is Love. She's a physical representation of one of my emotions. She's also the one who put up the force field in time," Raven said.

"Hello," Love greeted.

"I was just saved by love," Sin broke out in a fit of laughter. "Oh, the irony, AHAHAHAHA! Now I've seen everything!"

"I got to warn you, Sin. Trigon is using my other emotion to make himself stronger. He'll be impossible to beat if we don't do something now," Raven said.

"So that's why he's getting harder to beat. He's using you to make himself stronger!" Sin said angrily, his eyes blazing red. "I'm going to make him pay for using his own daughter for his advantage!"

"Be careful! Trigon can feed off the anger of others around him. It's his main source of power," Love warned.

"Anger, huh? Okay, so does either of you two Ravens know how to stop him?" Sin asked, looking at both of them.

Raven looked at Love. She was shaking her head.

"I don't know," Love said.

Sin sighed. "Alright then, you two try and keep four eyes busy while I find his weakness."

He leaped out into the air and glided back to Trigon. Raven and Love flew high above him and attacked.

Sin slashed shockwave after shockwave at Trigon. His attacks didn't seem to hurt the demon anymore. Trigon swiped his claws at the Raven's buzzing around his head. Raven blasted small burst of dark energy at Trigon's eyes. Love blasted as will. Trigon roared with fury and a surge of energy erupted from his body. The Ravens were knocked out of the air, plummeting to the rugged edged rocks below. Sin braced himself with his sword jabbed into the ground from the surge. When the surge past him, he look up in time to see the Ravens falling toward the jagged rocks. He leaped into the air and caught them both.

" _ **You cannot defeat me, weaklings!"**_ Trigon said.

Sin glared at Trigon with viciousness. "Weakling! You are calling me a weakling?"

" _ **Yes, and I will show you why you cannot compete with my powers!"**_ Trigon said. He raised his hands up to his chest and a dark red energy began forming around them.

"Let's see what you got, demon!" Sin readied to attack, but he remembered he still had both Ravens in his arms. There wasn't enough time to put them down and block Trigon's next attack.

Trigon blasted a ray of hellfire at them. At the last minute, Sin tossed the girls as far as he could as he was consumed in the demonic fire. Raven and Love landed close together and cried Sin's name. Raven saw him be engulfed in the fire and blasted away off the edge of the floating piece of terrain disappearing into the black void. The only thing left of the terrain was smoke and melted rocks.

"No…He's gone. You killed him! You killed Sin!" Raven yelled in grieving anger at her demonic father.

" _ **Yes, let your hatred build! It only makes me more powerful!"**_ Trigon said.

"I'll never be used by you again. Even if it kills me, I'll send you to the hell you crawled out of!" Raven vowed.

" _ **You need to be punished for speaking to me that way, daughter!"**_ Trigon said. He raised his right hand and a portal opened up in his palm.

A swarm of demonic ravens flew out of the portal and dived toward them. Both Ravens readied to fight off the swarm, but they still felt weak from Trigon's surge. Raven awaited the birds to start ripping at her. When the first demonic bird reached Raven, a dark spidery voice roared out in the air.

" _ **Crimson Laceration!"**_

Twenty blades of blood red energy came from behind Raven and Love. The blades sliced around them and shredded the demonic birds to ribbons. Raven looked behind her. There in a cloud of smoke, she saw a shadowed figure, walking towards them. Behind the shadow figure was what looked like feathered wings spread out wide.

As it neared them, Raven smiled and said, "He's an angel."

The figure's wings changed into bat-like demonic wings. A pair of glowing red eyes appeared from the figures face. A gust of wind blew away the smoke to reveal Sin.

"An angel of death maybe, but I'm no saint!" Sin said, grinning devilishly.

The wings turned out to be his shredded jacket. It flapped around behind him like wings of a bat. His shirt was burnt away, exposing a smooth muscled chest and a tight abdomen. His pale gleamed with perfection, save only for the scar over his heart, ruining the perfection. His pants and boots somehow were left unharmed. His hair had become undone from its ponytail. It floated around behind him like it was alive and all his belts glowed bright red around his waist. Raven couldn't take her eyes off the wild beauty from Sin. He stood proud and confident like a great general. His eyes blazed with unholy light. They gleamed the outline of his face in red and black light. His fangs seemed longer than before. Even his presence gave off a change. A dark power was emitting from all around him.

"Nice try, four eyes! You actually managed to make me heal almost my entire body, but it'll take more than demonic flames to kill me! AHAHAHA!" Sin laughed in wicked delight.

" _ **You will not survive my flames again, weakling!"**_ Trigon said.

Sin's glowing eyes gleamed darker, and he slashed his sword in front of him. A huge black shockwave sliced the ground and air. It struck Trigon and gashed his chest deeply.

Trigon roared in agonizing pain as he covered the huge wound with his hands.

"Never call me a weakling again, you pathetic excuse of a demon!" Sin growled evilly.

" _ **You are a weakling, because you give your feelings to others!"**_ Trigon said. He shot his eyebeams at Raven and Love.

Raven and Love braced for the attack, but Sin's sword landed in between them. A red pentacle appeared under them and a wall of crimson energy rose up over them, deflecting the beams away them the Ravens.

"You two stay in the circle. I'm going to put an end to this demon's existence once and for all!" Sin said.

Almost as if someone flipped a switch in Sin. His devilish expression changed, it turned into an evil expression. The smile vanished from his face. His eyes turned cold and uncaring. The belts glowed brighter all around him. He ran at Trigon and punched him the center of his face. The blow broke Trigon's nose and blood squirted from his bottom set of eyes. The force of the punch sent him reeling on his back. Trigon sat up leaning on one arm with a hand trying to rub the blood out of his eyes.

" _ **How did you become so strong so fast? What are you?"**_ Trigon said, feeling fear for the first time in his existence.

" _My strength lies from a source you cannot even fathom, demon! I am a master of darkness. I am true undead. No force on earth can stand against my powers,"_ Sin stated with a deep booming voice. A black pentacle drew itself under Sin. Black streams of energy crackled around him.

Outside of the tower, the moon glowed blood red. Its unholy lunar rays engulfed the entire Tower with dark red energy. The others looked around confused. The energy surrounding them made them feel uneasy.

"Yo, dudes, what is going on. I feel eerie," Beast boy shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself.

"I don't know what it is, but my scanners are showing it's coming from Raven's room," Cyborg inform them, reading the energy signature from the computer screen on his arm.

"Raven and Sin might be in trouble! We got to go help them!" Robin said.

"For all you know they might be the cause of all this energy," Speedy said.

"There's no time to accuse anybody, Speedy. We need to help Sin and Raven, now!" Robin said.

They all hurried to Raven's room.

Inside Raven's room, the energy was pouring into her mirror. It flooded down in a pillar of energy over Sin. The dark energy from the pentacle shot up like lightning. Sin's eyes were entirely crimson. He roared with an inhuman voice. His skin was vanishing into shadows. His teeth grew sharper looking as his jaw extended impossibly wide like a snake's. He flung out his arms and stood in a crucifix position.

" _ **What are you doing?"**_ Trigon demanded.

" _ **I'm sending you back to hell!"**_ Sin roared. Black and red energy danced around Sin's arms. _**"This is a very powerful technique, so powerful it could destroy an entire metropolis! I've only used this once when I battled your kind. You are going to pay for all the things you did to Raven, demon. Everything else you've done in your existence was trivial compared to your one crime you did."**_

" _ **Which crime do you accuse me of that you think is everything I did is unforgivable**_?" Trigon said.

" _ **You made Raven suffer! You tried to use your own flesh and blood for your own ends. You were never the father she wanted. Every time she tried to live her own life, you tried smiting her down. Your very existence brings nothing but pain to her. That's something I'll never forgive!"**_ Sin spoke with a coldness that could chill the hottest of flames. _**"Prepare yourself, demon, I end your life, NOW!"**_

The energy raced through Sin's arms. He brought his arms forward, touching at the wrist. He rose up into the air, black lightning danced all around him. The energy building up around his arms radiated with intense dark light.

" _ **Darkside Wave!"**_

A huge blast of dark energy with red helix beams circling around it was shot at Trigon. The blast pushed Trigon deep into the ground, destroying the terrain around him. The red pentacle was protecting Raven and Love from the blast. Trigon shielded himself with crossing his arms. The attack seemed to be working, but then Trigon got to his feet, still blocking most of the Sin's attack. Raven sensed Trigon was drawing more power from her emotions. Trigon was drawing in such a large amount, Raven felt herself become weaker by the second. Sin kept up his attack. He saw the energy Trigon was using from Raven be sucked into the red jewel in the middle of his forehead.

' _That's his weak spot!'_ Sin thought. _**"Raven! He's drawing the energy in the jewel in his forehead. We have to strike it to destroy him!"**_ Sin yelled out loud to her.

"I don't have enough strength to fight anymore. If I leave this circle I'll be ripped to shreds by the all that energy, " Raven said weakly.

"You don't have enough strength, but I do. I can give you make strength to defeat Trigon," Love said.

Love placed her hand on the hilt of Sin's sword. She pulled Raven close to her and touch Raven's chakra jewel with her own. Raven closed her eye as she concentrated on Love's strength. The jewels glow light and Love disappeared into Raven. She opened her eyes and realized she was now holding Sin's sword. She pulled it out of the ground and the red pentacle vanished. An aura of black and white surrounded her. It protected her from the dark energy slashing at her. She raised the sword up and flew at Trigon.

"This is for all the innocent people you have brought pain to!" Raven cried.

She drove the sword the middle of Trigon's jewel. The jewel shattered into hundreds pieces of shards. Dark energy erupted from Trigon's forehead. Raven was thrown back from the power escaping from Trigon. She managed to keep a grip on Sin's sword pulled free from Trigon. With no more energy protecting him. Sin started laughing wickedly as he summoned more power. The dark energy ripped through Trigon annihilating his essence. With a final cry Trigon was destroyed. Sin floated down to the ground and walked over to where Raven was thrown. She was lying on the ground, unconscious, still holding his sword. Sin chuckled amused at the sight and kneeled down next to her. He sat her up in his lap and patted her cheek lightly.

"Wake up, Raven, it's over. Trigon has been defeated. He won't ever haunt over you again. You're free, my grumpy witch," Sin spoke softly.

Raven woke up, mumbling, "Stupid vampire."

Sin laughed wickedly and helped Raven to her feet.

"Is it really over. He's gone forever…" Raven said in unbelief.

"Yes, he will never harm another soul again. You can decide what path you want to take from now on, Raven," Sin said.

Out of nowhere all of Raven's emotions appeared. Happy ran in circles around Sin, yelling, "Ding dong, Trigon's dead, Trigon's dead!"

When she ran off Timid crept up to Sin and gave him a quick hug and ran to hide behind bravery. Knowledge and the other said thank you, even anger looked somewhat glad Trigon was gone now.

"This is quite an interesting experience, Raven. Seeing all the different sides of your personality. What else could make this more memorable!" Sin said.

Happy snuck up behind Sin and cupped her hands over her mouth, and yelled very loudly, "DOG PILE!" All of Raven's emotion and Raven herself jumped Sin. He fell down laughing his head off as all the Ravens got sat on top of him.

Outside of Raven's room. The other's arrived to her door. Robin was about to open the door when it suddenly opened on its own. Sin and Raven stepped out laughing happily. The other starred at the two confused as they were laughing.

"Raven, this is the first time I've heard you laugh with such joy!" Starfire said.

"What happened, you guys? We were watching that movie and the Tower starts glowing like a red light bulb," Beast boy asked.

"We'll explain it all to you later, but right now. I want to do something I've always wanted to do," Sin said.

"What's that, Sin," Robin asked.

"I want to spent some family quality time with…my daughter," Sin said, smiling pleasantly.

"That sounds good…dad," Raven said.

Sin gestured for Raven to take his arm, and she wrapped her left arm around it. They left the other standing there in wonder.

"Does anyone understand what's going on here, because I'm totally lost," Beast boy said.

"If we tried to understand we'd be as mad as Sin," Speedy grunted.

"Robin, why did Raven call Sin her father…Robin?" Starfire said, looking around. She saw Robin walking along with beside Raven, laughing along with them.

"If that's a weird family they have now," Hotshot said.

"Yeah, like the Addams family," Speedy said.

They heard Robin, Raven, and Sin snap their fingers twice. and rolling with laughter as they walked down the hall.

A/N: Tell me what you guys think of this chapter. I hope you all liked it. I tried really hard to hurry up with this update for you guys. If you want the next chapter to come out sooner. Send me a lot of big long reviews that'll get me to hurry up with the next chapters.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: No, blast it! NO! I don't own Teen Titans. I only own the story and Sin!

A/N: Thank you all for the wonderful reviews. I promised I'd update sooner, and I keep my word. This chapter was inspired to me by SHINAGAMI VIRUS. I think you'll enjoy this one! I don't know if you have read this story or not, but there's this one story that has caught my eye. It's very catching and I keep looking for it to update everyday! Here it is.

"The Tiger" by Grendal-Warchild.

If you haven't read this story yet, I advice you all to read it now and give him some reviews, thanks.

To Nubia: I'm only going to say this one more time. Robin did NOT turn Raven into a vampire! You should reread this story more closely. It takes more then a bite on the neck to become Nosferatu.

Personal note: I'd like to talk to all the writers reading my story right now. If you haven't noticed I love vampires. That's why I started writing "Scarlet Embrace" I've also am excited to see other stories like "Robin, my Houkounin", and a small handful of TT vampire fanfics...but not enough. I'd like to give out a 'challenge' to anyone who wishes to participate in it. You don't have to. Nothing is making you, or going to stop you from writing other fanfics. This is just a way to have some more TT vampire fanfics. If you accept it, then I challenge you to write a TT vampire fanfic! If you do want to, but you don't know how to go about it I'm always glad to help anyone. If you just want some advice or a plot, then I'd be more then happy to help you with it. E-mail me or go on IM if you want to talk to me. Thank you for your time. Remember nothing is forcing you to take up this challenge. This is just a way to see some more great TT vampire fanfics here.

 **Devil's Bet**

The next two weeks Sin, Robin, and Raven spent every night going out and having the time of theirs lives. Each night Sin took them out to Crimson Desires where they danced and partied most of the night. Then they returned to the tower to spend some quiet 'family' time. Robin and Raven had silently agreed to sleep in one or the others room. Robin and Raven had gone through a drastic change over the last two weeks. Robin had completely redecorated his room. He took down all the pictures of criminals and newspapers hanging on his walls. He put his old costume and gear in the vault for safe keeping. He still had the table, but he put the files in the evidence room. He painted the walls and ceiling in his room a dark purple. His bed now had black sheets and pillowcases. He put up heavy black velvet curtains over his window. Even if the sun's rays don't burn him they still hurt his eyes. One time Beast Boy walked in and thought he accidentally walked into Raven's room. The first time Sin walked into the changed room he smiled more wickedly than usual.

All he said to Robin was: "Nice change."

Robin's personality had changed. He had become more dark and mysterious than he was before. His normal cocky smile slowly changed into a wicked smile. Everything from the old Robin had vanished, except for his scene of justice to protect the weak. Raven had become more expressive with her emotions. She still remained her gothic self, but she would laugh and smile more often. She kept her word to Sin and keeps mediating to tame her powers, but when she isn't. She wears her belt whenever she goes out or just hanging around the others. Her emotions roamed free in her mind. Love had reappeared and was always found talking to one of her other emotions, mainly Happy. Sin had made Robin stop drinking Raven's blood for a while. He never gave a reason to why, but when Robin asked him. Sin would shrug and make up a random excuse, none of them really made any since to Robin, but he stopped. Raven complained when she heard about this.

She soon realized having Robin bite her made there time making love more exciting. Having him stop made her want him to bite her even more. She'd taunt Robin and try encouraging him to bite her, but he resisted every opportunity to drink her addicting sweet blood. It wasn't easy for him to resist Raven's attempts. By the end of the second week Robin had enough of behaving. He was going to confront Sin and demand him to tell him the reason why he had to stop drinking Raven's blood. He planned out how he was going to get Sin to tell him and explain what was going on with him. Robin lounged on the couch, watching a horror movie with Raven. She was leaning against him, almost sitting in his lap. Right when the sun had set. A ripple of darkness appeared next to Robin and Sin appeared, sitting on the couch causally. Robin opened his mouth to speak, but Sin spoke up first.

"Feel any different tonight, Robin?" Sin asked simply.

Robin stumbled with his words and looked at the crazed vampire awkwardly. "Uh? N...No, I feel the same," Robin replied.

Sin rolled his head slowly till he faced Robin, smiling devilishly. "Good. So, it is true then!" he said, breaking out in a dark chuckle.

"What? What's true, Sin? You've been acting strangely since Robin can walk around during the day," Raven said.

Sin was about to answer when he shifted his eyes to the others coming into the room. "Evening," he said, widening his smile.

"Yo, Drac, how's it going?" Cyborg said. Drac had become Sin's nickname for all of them.

Speedy grunted and went to sit at the table, with Starfire following behind him. Everyone else said there hellos and joined them by the couch. Sin crossed his legs on rested his feet on the small table.

"Since all of you are here. I will explain what has being going on," Sin said.

"Yeah, dude! I'm still totally lost!" Beast Boy said.

"What else is new," Raven said, rolling her eyes.

"Hey!" Beast Boy said, glaring at the black of Ravens head.

Sin laughed amusedly and explained what he wanted them to know. He held back quite a bit of information, but it was mainly for there own good and his own. The less they knew the safer they were. He told them about the battle with Trigon and that Raven is free forever from him. What he didn't tell them was that he made her the belt or about his own. He only trusted Raven and soon Robin with that information. He told them that now Trigon was gone forever. Raven could be freer with her emotions, and he left it at that.

"That's really cool for you Raven, but what I want to know is how Robin can walk around in sunlight, where's you can't," Cyborg said.

Sin broke out in another fit of laughter. "You should ask Robin and Raven that question! AHAHAHAHA!" He crackled.

They both looked at him confused. "Wha-?" They both said.

"Huh? Why should we ask them? Their as clueless as us on this," Beast boy said.

"As much as I hate to admit it. We are clueless, Sin. Why doesn't the sun hurt me?" Robin said.

Sin gazed at Raven with a wicked amusement. "Because she has demonic blood, Robin!" Sin said, like that explained it all.

All of them looked at one another still confused. Raven quickly caught onto what Sin meant.

"You mean my blood made Robin immune to the sun?" Raven said.

"Correct, there is a legend among our kind that drinking the blood of someone with a demonic heritage. Will grant them immunity to the sun's harmful rays, but it was only a legend, because there aren't many people like you Raven. If there were many of our kind would be walking around in the sunlight. Drinking demon's blood makes us stronger, but when that blood is from someone with human blood as well. It changes the properties of the blood," Sin said.

"So...what you're saying is that Raven's blood is unique?" Beast boy said, still somewhat clueless.

"In a way that you can't understand, elf!" Sin said with wickedness dancing in his blood red eyes.

"Why didn't you just tell us this from the start, Sin?" Robin asked.

"Because I wasn't sure. It was a legend, after all, but when you told me the symptoms. And after you..." He leaned close to Robin, but looking at Raven when he said, "Tasted Raven's sweet and rare blood! That's why I told you to stop drinking her blood. I had to make sure it was permanent, not a one time thing."

Raven's whole face turned crimson. Robin coughed a little and shifted in on the couch nervously. The others were smart enough, not to say a word about it. They left it alone and thought it was none of there business, all except Beast boy.

"Dude! You drank Raven's blood!" Beast boy blurted out wide eyed.

"Yeah, so what about!" Robin said, glaring at him coldly.

"Uh? N...N-Nothing!" Beast Boy stuttered, and ran to hide behind Cyborg.

Sin laughed, and said, "Now, that that's all cleared for all of you. Let us enjoy the rest of the night!" He sat up.

Robin and Raven got up too. Speedy grunted loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. Sin glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, is there something you wish to say, Speedy?" Sin asked mockingly.

"Yeah...there is!" Speedy said heatedly, and got out of his chair.

"Speedy, don't..." Starfire spoke softly, trying to pull him back into his sit.

Sin raised a hand. "No, I want to hear what he has on his mind. It's obvious something is troubling our young friend here," he said, grinning devilishly.

"First off, vampire, I'm not your friend. And secondly, what are your real reasons for being here. All you've done here is make Robin into a monster like you. Now your turning Raven into a-a...vampire slut!" Speedy yelled angrily, but when he realized that last part he said. He knew he was in deep trouble.

Raven's expression was blank. She didn't let it show she was hurt by his words. Robin didn't bother. His Evil eye was glowing darkly from the rage building up in him. The others back away. Starfire backed away from Speedy, but they weren't looking at Raven or Robin. They were looking at Sin after Speedy's outburst. Sin stood there completely motionless. If no one knew better they'd have mistaken him for a statue. His devilish grin remained, but his eyes gleamed with malice. Speedy gulped and slowly took a keep back in fright. Sin tilted his head, widening his grin.

"So...this is what you really think of them, isn't it," Sin sneered darkly.

Speedy gathered the courage to say. "No, I don't think of them that way. I know they wouldn't be acting this way, if you were never here!"

"Oh, really! Tell me exactly how they should act around you. Hmm, what, are they supposed to act a different way, because you don't like it?!" Sin hissed, taking a step towards Speedy.

Speedy managed not to take another step back. He glared as best he could into Sin's eyes. "N-No! That's not it! You're the one changing them into something else. You're the one turning Robin into a version of yourself. Look at him! He's dressed like some gothic wanna-be from a stupid vampire novel! You're no better than Slade himself!" Speedy said.

"Don't you dare compare Sin to Slade! He saved both Raven's and my life! If Sin wasn't there I'd be dead and Trigon would still be trying to force Raven to do his will," Robin said, blinking his right eye feverishly. The pain in his eye was getting out of hand.

"You're the only one uncomfortable with Sin. Even Starfire admitted to me she doesn't mind him," Raven said, emotionlessly.

"That's only because she and the rest are scared of him!" Speedy shouted.

"Not really, man. Sure we're scared of him, but not because we think he's going to hurt us. It's just that he's a scary guy," Cyborg said.

"Yeah, Speedy. Sin hasn't done anything to us. From what I've seen he's done all he can to make us comfortable with Robin's change," Beast boy said.

"They are right, Speedy. If Sin did mean to cause us harm. He would have left Robin to learn all on his own about his...beast," Starfire said.

Speedy looked at her unbelieving what she said. He looked at all of them, seeing there blank faces. "Don't any of you see what he's doing! He's changed Robin forever!" Speedy yelled.

"At least he isn't dressed like a faggot like you!" Sin snickered, laughing wickedly.

That was the last straw. Speedy pulled out his bow and shot an arrow at him, aiming for his heart. Sin caught the arrow as easily as he did last time.

"Temper, temper!" Sin snickered.

"Why, you!" Speedy growled and strung another arrow.

Sin held up a hand. "Before you try that again. How about a bet," Sin cooed, twirling the arrow around in his hand.

Speedy lowered his bow. "What kind of bet?" he asked.

"Just a simply coin toss," Sin's grin widened into a wicked smile. "If you win it then you can decide my fate, but if I win..." Sin began chuckling wickedly.

"If I win...I can make you do anything?" Speedy said, not believing what he heard.

Sin vanished and reappeared next to Speedy. "That's right!" he whispered in his ear.

"Ahhh!" Speedy hollered, stumbling away from him.

"F-Fine! I'll take your bet! If I win you got to leave the tower forever, and never see Robin or Raven again!" Speedy said.

"What a minute! You can't-"Sin held up a hand to silence Robin.

"I have giving my word, Robin. He can decide my fate if he wins." He gazed at Speedy evilly. "If its heads I leave, but if its tails, then you'll lose fast enough!" Sin said that last part a little too quickly for anyone to catch, except Robin.

He looked at Sin and saw a red glint shining in his eyes. Robin smirked to himself. He could feel Sin working something in his mind.

"Good! It's only fair to warn you now, Sin. I never lose a coin toss!" Speedy said, reaching into his pocket for a coin.

"Not so fast, Speedy! I believe someone else should toss the coin. Call it, fair sport. Beast boy, would you do the honors," Sin said.

"Uh? Sure, I guess," Beast boy replied, quickly getting a coin out.

"I think it's only fair to say, you can back out of this now, Speedy. Then we all can forget this whole incident," Sin said.

"Not on your unlife, vampire!" Speedy said.

Sin shrugged his shoulders. "You had your chance."

"Okay, you guys! Here we go!" Beast Boy said.

He tossed the coin up in the air. Time must have stood still for everyone, because it seemed like the coin was taking forever to come back down. When the coin came back down Beast boy grabbed it and put it on the back of his right hand. He peeked under his hand and smirked goofily. The other Titans were worried about that goofy smile on Beast boy.

"Go ahead, Beast boy, tell me I won!" Speedy said, smiling in triumph.

"No, dude, you lost!" Beast boy said, showing him the coin.

It was tails, but to Speedy, it was a sign of disaster. He slowly turned his head to face Sin. He was smiling psychotically at Speedy. He slowly broke out in an evil laughter.

"Time to pay up!" Sin snickered.

He reacted so quickly that no one saw him move. Robin with his enhanced senses couldn't follow Sin's movements. Sin dashed at Speedy and grabbed his ankles. He flipped Speedy upside down, holding him like that in the air.

"Put me down!" Speedy shouted.

"Sorry, I bet's and bet. You lost so now you are going to pay!" Sin said.

He and Speedy disappeared into a void of darkness. Sin took Speedy to the roof top of the tower.

"W-What are you going to do?" Speedy said fearfully.

Sin extended his free arm out on a huge wooden paddle appeared in his hand. The paddle was four inches thick and five feet long.

"I'm going to give you the paddling like you've never had before!" Sin crackled with glee.

He smacked Speedy, hard, in the back. Speedy cried out in pain. "That one was for calling Raven a slut!" Sin growled. He hit Speedy between the shoulder blades. "And that one was for Robin!" He reared the paddle back and hit Speedy harder on his rear end. "And that one is for dressing like a fag!" He began laughing manically as he continued to hit Speedy repeatedly there. Hiding in the shadows by the doorway. A figure pulled out a metallic device and aimed it at them. The figure hit a button and the device in his hands made a rapid clicking sound. After two straight hours of Sin paddling the hell out of Speedy. He stopped and took him back to the others. He didn't bother putting him down. He flung Speedy on Starfire's lap.

He smiled at her, and said, "He's going to be sore for a few days. I'd advice no rough stuff in bed for...oh, I'd say a month! AHAHAHAHAHHAH!"

He disappeared into darkness. The next day Beast boy burst into the living room, carrying a newspaper.

"Guys! Guys! You got to see what's on the front page!" Beast boy shouted.

Robin took the newspaper from Beast boy and looked at the front page. When he saw what was on the front page he tried to keep a straight face. He failed and started laughing. He handed the paper to Raven and soon she started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Cyborg asked.

Raven flipped the paper around for everyone to see. On the front page was a picture of Speedy hanging upside down, being paddled on his rear end. Whoever took the picture didn't show who was paddling Speedy. All you could see was an arm holding him and the paddle he was using. When Speedy saw it his whole face showed humiliation.

"I'm going to be the...ach!" Speedy rubbed his sore rear when he sat down on the couch. "The laughing stock in all of Jump City!" Speedy whimpered pitifully.

An evil laughter came out of nowhere. It filled the air with an eerie cold feeling. "Remember this well, Speedy! When you make a bet with a devil, you have more to loss! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Robin wrapped an arm around Raven and started laughing along with Sin. Soon Raven joined in and they left the other in utter silence.

"You know, Cy, I think I liked it better when Raven acted all emotionless," Beast boy said.

"Ditto, BB, but you got to admit though. When Sin gets back at you. He goes all out!" Cyborg said.

Far out of the Jump city. In a dark, dreary room hidden in an old mansion. A figure was holding a copy of the newspaper.

"Enjoy your time with them, Sin. For I have plans for us and soon it will be like old time!" the figure said. He crumbled the paper and threw in it a lit fireplace. A cold empty laughter soon filled the air.

A/N: Sorry, I made this one short, but I don't think you'll complain. Tell me what you guys think of it. Remember to send some reviews thanks everyone. Till next update, see ya!


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: See previous chapter.

A/N: I want to thank everyone again for all the wonderful reviews you've sent me. I've been going through a…difficult time last month and it didn't make the beginning of this month any easier, but seeing all the reviews you guys have sent me have helped me get over it and now I'm even more determined to write!

To The Raven's Wings: First off, thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked seeing Speedy get paddled. I look forward to seeing your vampire fanfic. The book I mentioned earlier can be found in any store. "The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead" by J. Gordon Melton. You can find almost all you need to know about vampires in this book, but it is still wise to look around for other books.

To SARA: Well, well. All I can say is thanks you for reviewing each chapter. I will have my updates up faster than I have over the summer.

To Kumi: I must say when I got your review I was shocked by how long it was. Everyone needs to thank you, because your review helped me most of to get this updated. As for anyone reporting this story for its contents. I'm not worried, if they decide to take it off, then I'll simply put on this story on another fanfic website. Thank you again for all you said in your review.

To dragonofthewolfsmoon: Thank you for making time to review my story. I try myself to take the time and read and review stories that catch my attention. I do like Inuyasha and I've seen Spirited Away. They are both great, mainly Inuyasha, I like it more now with all the new episodes they've been playing on Adult Swim.

To Everyone: Thank you all again for the reviews and just to give you all a heads up. Everything you've seen up till now in 'Scarlet Embrace' is nothing! Compared to what I've got in store with the rest of this story. *Devilish Grin* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 **Nocturnal Familiars**

The next day was a disaster for the Titans. All the small time criminals in Jump City showed up and started tearing up the city. This was very unfortunate for them all, because they all had to face the dark boy wonder and a more powerful Raven. With the belt Sin gave her she could now lift more heavy objects than she could before. Robin showed all the crooks it was a bad choice to become criminals. The entire city couldn't believe how much Robin had changed. It wasn't just his new powers, but his strange new attitude he had when he brought down a bad guy. Even the other Titans were shocked by Robin's behavior as he defeated each bad guy. He would first taunt them as he fought them, and then laugh almost like Sin in their faces when he beat them.

Raven didn't act as Robin did, but she would smile when she stopped a bad guy…almost too much. She picked up an empty bus and smashed it over Plasmus when he was rampaging through the city, knocking him unconscious. When the other Titans saw what she done they looked back at her to see she had a smile that would make Sin proud. After that day the whole city gave Robin a new nickname that would strike fear in any criminal from that day forth, "Death Robin."

Anyone that saw him now can easily say he was a predator and he showed all the bad guys he was. His normal fighting style became more brutal. One thug thought he got away with robbing a bank, but was immediately stopped by Robin in an alleyway. When the police arrived they found the thug in the alleyway with a broken arm, bloody face, and the gun he used was crushed over his now broken fingers.

All the thug could say was 'Death almost got him' hence where everyone thought up Robin's new title. The police were worried at first about how Robin stopped the thug, but because of all the times Robin had saved their city. They figured as long as he didn't start killing them, it was fine. None of the officials said a word about Robin or Raven's methods. One tried to say they were getting out of hand, but he never got the chance to. When he was about to voice he opinion his mind got foggy and he soon forgot what he was about to say. He never noticed the red pair of eyes staring at him from his own shadow.

Speedy still tried to make the others see Sin was bad to have around, after seeing Robin's brutality with beating the bad guys. He tried to start telling them Robin had to been stopped, but Starfire, surprising him yet again, defended Robin by quickly reminding him of what Sin did to him the night before. Speedy kept quiet for the rest of the day. As the Titans entered home they found Sin lounging on the couch, looking at Robin more amused than ever.

"Hey, Sin" Robin greeted him, as he sat on the couch next to him.

"Evening… _'Death'_ Robin," Sin said, chuckling wickedly.

Robin looked irritated for a second for being called that, but he quickly cocked a wicked grin.

"So, you heard about today, huh?" Cyborg asked.

"How could I not! The whole city is talking about Robin and his…change!" Sin replied.

"Man, Robin! Did you have to throw that one guy out the window?" Beast Boy said.

Robin shrugged his shoulders. "He was gonna kill an old woman for her jewelry. He was going to make it look like she fell down the flight of stairs in her building. Then rob her, and then go back to her apartment and take everything. The bastard got what he deserved," Robin said.

"Yeah, but did you have to throw him out of a twentieth floor window?" Beast boy said.

Robin shrugged his shoulders again. "You caught him, didn't you?"

"I almost didn't! I didn't know his right arm was pulled out of the joint when you tossed him. He screamed so loud I almost dropped him!" Beast "Boy fumed.

"Hmm, Robin, you need to be a bit more careful. If you keep this up everyone is going to start asking questions about what you are now. We can't let anyone know you are a Nosferatu now. If humans found out we will have wannabes or real vampire hunters coming to try and kill us," Sin said.

"I'll try, but those crooks got what they deserved," Robin grunted defensively.

"True, but you forget. You're a hero to the city, Robin. Do you want little kids to start thinking if their hero can beat up criminals like you did today? What's to stop them from doing it when they grow up? That would be a bad example for them…but it'd be funny as hell to see a ten year old beat the crap out of a thug! AHAHAHAHAHA!" Sin crackled.

"Ok, ok. I'll tune down next time we stop a bad guy," Robin said, looking agitated.

"But if you happen to run by a human that deserves it at night by yourself. Well, that's another matter," Sin whispered so low only Robin's ears could hear it.

Robin glanced at Sin and they both chuckled so darkly, it made the others skin crawl.

"Dudes! Don't do that, it's creepy!" Beast Boy said.

"Why, did it make you have to go put on clean pair of pants?" Sin snickered.

"HEY! That's not funny. I just got papered trained…whoops," Beast boy said. His faced turned red when he realized what he said.

The two Nosferatu broke out laughing, followed by the others. After they all stopped laughing at Beast boy's embarrassment. Sin got up off the couch and strolled to the window. He glanced up at the night sky and grinned.

"I hope you're not to tired, Robin, because tonight we start your new training," Sin said.

"What kind of training is it going to be?" Robin asked.

"I'll tell you later. I cannot explain it while around the others. Our secrets are only for us to know," Sin said, glancing back to Robin.

"All right," Robin said, getting up from the couch and walking over to Sin.

As Robin walked over to him. Sin looked over at Raven, and said, "Raven, will you join us tonight?"

"Huh? Why does Raven get to go? Didn't you say you can only tell Robin?" Beast Boy said.

Sin turned his face away and looked back at the night sky.

"She's a special case," Sin said simply.

Raven walked over to them.

"Why do you want me to come with you?" Raven asked.

"I'll explain everything once we go to the area I picked out for tonight," Sin said.

He touched both their shoulders and they were enveloped by darkness. The darkness rose up above the others and vanished into nothingness.

"Hasn't he ever heard of using the doors to leave?" Speedy growled.

"Why? That's a cooler way to leave!" Cyborg said.

In the woods outside of Jump city, a void of darkness appeared in a clearing. The darkness unfolded to reveal Sin, Robin, and Raven standing in the clearing. The two Titans looked at their surroundings and looked back at Sin.

"Why are we hear, Sin?" Robin asked.

"With the way things are going in the city. Doing your training out here will allow us to continue without interruption," Sin replied.

"Alright, but what's this new training you're talking about?" Robin asked again.

"You have learned to control your heightened abilities. You know your physical prowess is stronger than it once was. Now we begin working on your spiritual and mental powers," Sin said walking to the middle of the clearing.

His sword appeared and floated next him. He looked at it, and it began to fly on its own. It used its tip to draw a circle about six feet in length and six feet in width around Sin. He stepped out of the circle, and the sword began to draw runes and a five pointed star inside the circle. Once it was done the sword disappeared into the shadows.

"Raven, I need you to leave this clearing. If you would be so kind as to wait somewhere, but not too far from here. I will join you shortly," Sin said.

"Ok," Raven said, and left the clearing.

Sin waited till he sensed Raven was far enough from the clearing. He then looked at Robin.

"You will need to take off your clothes for this, Robin," Sin said.

"What!?" Robin gaped.

"Before I can teach you any of your spiritual powers. You must first find your familiar. It is a vital part in your training. In order to call forth your familiar, you cannot have any clothes on when you call it. Your clothes will dampen your spiritual powers to call it. Once you do find it, then you don't have to worry about your clothes getting in the way," Sin said.

"Is that why you told Raven to leave?" Robin asked.

"Yes, because if she saw you take your clothes off. You'll never get around to calling your familiar," Sin said.

"I think Raven and I can keep off one another!" Robin stated.

"I don't think you two quite realize the effect you have on the other. Raven is a strong willed girl, but if she was here right now, watching you get naked and calling forth your familiar. Do you think you can concentrate knowing she's watching you and thinking about what she'd like to do?" Sin said.

"Uh? No, I don't believe I could?" Robin admitted.

"Now that you understand, take off your clothes and get in the circle," Sin ordered.

Robin started to remove his trench coat when he remembered Sin was still there.

"Umm, Sin, can I get some privacy?" Robin said bashfully.

"You and I are both males, Robin. There's nothing to be bashful. Now stop stalling and hurry up," Sin said.

"Fine…" Robin said.

Robin got undressed and trying to act like it didn't bother him. He got in the circle and covered himself. Sin shook his head and walked to the edge of the circle.

"I forget you Americans are uncomfortable with being naked around others," Sin said.

"Yeah! Can we please get these over with," Robin said.

"Don't worry about anyone catching you like this, Robin. We're out in the woods. No one, expect the animals, are out here to see this. Just to put your mind at ease. I put up a spell that will divert people and animals from this clearing," Sin said.

"That still doesn't really help me with the fact I'm naked in the woods," Robin growled.

Sin chuckled and shook his head slowly.

"If Raven was here, you wouldn't be complaining!" Sin remarked.

"I…Ur? T-That's a different matter!" Robin said quickly.

"Yes, but not the reason why we are out here. Now, put your nudity out of your mind and sit Indian-style exactly in the middle of the circle," Sin said.

Loud grumbles and curses were heard as Robin did as he was told. He turned so his left side was facing Sin. He'd feel very uncomfortable if Sin was standing right in front of him while he was naked.

"Put your hands on your knees and straighten your back," Sin instructed.

Robin reluctantly did and tried to keep from looking at Sin.

"Now that you are set. Listen to me carefully and do exactly what I say. In order to call forth your familiar you must first calm your mind. Close your eyes and clear out everything in your mind," Sin said.

Robin closed his eyes and began clearing his mind like how Batman showed him. He sat there almost like he was mediating. Sin gave Robin a few minutes and spoke up again.

"Once your mind is cleared. I want you to reach out with your mind. Imagine you're calling an animal with your mind. Don't try to picture what kind of animal your calling. You have no idea what familiar will come to you. It will come to your call," Sin said.

"How will I know if its my familiar?" Robin spoke almost like his mind was somewhere else.

"You will know it's your when it shows itself. Don't do anything until it makes the first move. If it comes towards you, let it do whatever it needs to recognize itself with you. If it looks like its about to leave, let it! It will sense you are not right for it and another will come along. I shall leave to join Raven while you are calling forth it. Remember you have all the time you need and I will be close to make sure you are safe. Once you have your familiar come look for me. I will lower my defenses enough for you to sense where I am," Sin said.

He walked away from Robin to the edge of the clearing. He made sure the spell he put up will keep anything he didn't want to find Robin away. He closed he eyes and sensed where Raven was. He disappeared into darkness and reappeared where Raven was. She was sitting on a log in a small clearing looking up at the night sky. The log she was sitting on lay under an old willow tree. He didn't know if she sat there intentionally or not, but seeing Raven sit under the willow tree brought back all his memories of Cynthia. Every night he found her waiting for him under the willow tree.

He knew Cynthia was dead and nothing he could do would bring her back, but Raven was so much like her. He couldn't help but think Raven was an incarnation of Cynthia. Which would explain why he felt so compelled to protect her and feel happy again just being around her?

' _Maybe this is my second chance?_ ' Sin thought.

He walked silently behind her. He coughed lightly to let her know she wasn't alone. Raven turned her head around to face Sin and smiled happily. Sin sat on the log with her and pulled her close to him.

"Where's Robin?" Raven asked.

"He's calling forth his familiar. I don't know how long it was take. It all depends on the creature that comes to him," Sin said.

"Why did you want me to come, Sin?" Raven asked.

"Since Robin can walk about during the day. I need you make sure he mediates for four hours each day. You can show him a better way to mediate than I could," Sin said.

"Sin…why did you really want me to come with you? You could have told me this back at the tower," Raven said.

Sin looked away from her. He pulled his arm away from her. He glanced at the stars for a minute before looking back at Raven.

"I just wanted you to come along. I know you're not Cynthia. She died a long time ago, but you have the same feel as she did around you. She reminded me I wasn't a just a monster." Sin looked at his right hand as if something vile was on it. "I did so many terrible things, Raven. Things that no man can repent for. It's why I call myself Sin. She made me feel like my old self before my-" Sin closed his eyes, a line of blood leaked at the brim of his eyes.

It took Raven a moment to remember Nosferatu cried blood tears.

"Sin, why are you crying? What happened before you changed?" Raven said, hugging his arm.

"I wasn't like I am now a hundred thousand years ago," Sin said.

"Your over a thousand!" Raven said in astonishment.

"I have walked the night for over fifteen hundred years, Raven. When I was changed I was like Robin is now, only more of a pacifist than a fighter. My Sire was also my lover. She was the most beautiful and enchanting being that graced this world. She was literally my entire world," Sin said.

"Something happened to her, didn't it?" Raven said.

"She was murdered and betrayed by someone close to both of us!" Sin growled.

He flexed his fingers, until they curved like claws. He squeezed his sharp fingernails into the palm of his hand. Blood started dripping from his hand.

"Sin, don't…" Raven said, putting a hand over his bleeding hand.

He flinched away his bleeding hand from her touch. He didn't want to see his blood on her hand. That would bring back too many bad memories. He opened his hand and the flesh quickly healed itself. The blood pulled back into his inflicted wound before it sealed, making his hand look perfectly clean.

"I went mad after she was killed. I lost myself inside my head and let my beast control all my actions. Another Nosferatu came along and helped pull me out of my madness and gave me a purpose to keep living. That was when I vowed to become the monster I fought so hard not to be. For centuries after that I struck fear into the hearts of humans and any creature that stood in my way…but I was slowly going crazy again. I left for the new world, thinking there was something that would help me there. I was right. Cynthia helped me remember who I was. I loved her so much, Raven. I wanted to make her a Nosferatu so we could always be together, but the sign in her never showed itself to me. So, I vowed I'd make her human life as comfortable, and as happy, as I could…but in the end she died. I can't bear to think what her last thoughts were! She must have been praying I'd come and save her. When the rope stole her life I…" Sin's words choked in his throat.

"I don't think she would have blamed you, Sin. I truly believe she wanted you to not mourn her, but be the 'man' you once were," Raven said.

Sin looked at her with an expression of sorrow. Raven could almost physically feel the pain in his eyes.

"You really think those were her last thoughts?" Sin wondered.

"I...feel those were her last thoughts," Raven said.

Sin pulled Raven into his arms. Raven placed her arms around his neck and rested her head on his cheek. The two sat like that for the longest time. Then Sin slowly sat up straight, pulling slightly away from Raven. He cupped her face in his left hand and caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"I won't ever let anyone harm you, my little Raven. I couldn't stop Cynthia or my Sire from dying, but by the night itself. I vow to never let anyone harm you," Sin said.

"I'm not going to live forever, Sin. I'll die naturally when my time comes, but I'm going to enjoy every moment of it with the ones I love," Raven said.

Raven looked up and was taken back by the expression on Sin's face. His devilish grin returned and there was a gleam in his eyes. That gleam was enough to tell her something was going on in his mind.

"I couldn't change Cynthia, because the sign never showed up me her…but fate has giving me a second chance," Sin said.

"What do you mean?" Raven asked confused.

"Raven, you are-" Sin was cut off by a goofy laughter that broke out in the air.

"What the hell?" Sin said, looking over Raven's head.

He saw a weird looking man with blue skin and white hair. He was dressed exactly like a showcase magician, but he also wore a black mask over his eyes. Raven groaned loudly in annoyance.

"I thought we arrested you already, Mumbo!" Raven said.

"Hah, hah! There isn't a prison in the world that can hold, the incredible Mumbo!" Mumbo said.

Raven pulled away from Sin and got off the log.

"Whatever, what are you doing out here?" Raven said.

"Why, I came out here to practice my magic. So I could defeat you Titans once and for all. Imagine my surprise to see you here acting all lovey-dovey with someone who looks twice your age," Mumbo said.

Raven rolled her eyes. Sin sat up with his devilish charms back on his face.

"This will be amusing. I needed something to entertain myself. What unfortunate luck for you that you ran into me at the wrong moment!" Sin said.

"Well, if you want entertainment. I'd be more than happy to oblige!" Mumbo said, raising his wand.

Wood broads appeared around Sin and enclosed in a coffin-like box. Mumbo buzzed around him putting chains around the box. Mumbo put a huge lock on the chains and waved his wand again. Ten swords popped into existence and pierced the box. He then conjured a huge mallet and positioned himself like a golfer.

"Four!" Mumbo said, and swung the mallet.

He hit the box, and it went flying out of the clearing and landed in a nearby lake.

"So much for your friend. He should have been careful with what he wished for!" Mumbo said, breaking out in a mad laughter.

Suddenly another mad laughter joined Mumbo's. Mumbo looked to his right and saw Sin laughing next to him.

"AHH!" Mumbo yapped, and jumped away from Sin. "How did you—I mean when did you?"

Sin stopped laughing and gazed at the magician wickedly. "A true user of magic never reveals his secrets. Stage magic is fine, but I prefer good old fashion _'Black'_ magic!" Sin said, spreading out his arms.

His body melted into shadows. The shadows began to slither away from his body. The steams of shadows turned into black snakes. Each one with crimson eyes and looking at Mumbo.

"I hate snakes!" Mumbo cried in fright.

The snakes slithered toward Mumbo, flashing mouths filled with needle sharp teeth. Mumbo pointed at the nearest snakes and they turned to flowers. He kept changing any snake that got near him into flowers. He never noticed a huge shadowy thing rise up behind him. Raven looked at the shadowy thing and glanced at Mumbo with a wicked grin.

"Hey, Mumbo, better look behind you," Raven said.

"Huh?" Mumbo said.

He looked over his shoulder just in time to see the shadowy thing turn into a huge black snake. It stretched to about thirty feet in length. The head was bigger than Mumbo's whole torso. Its ebony scales gleamed in the moonlight, and it's unblinking eyes were blood red. It opened its mouth to reveal three rows of needled fangs. Mumbo raised his wand to make his escape, but the snake's tail whipped out and knocked the wand out of his hand. Mumbo screamed as the snake rose higher over him and clamped its needled filled mouth over his head.

Raven looked away when she heard the snapping noise when the snake bit down. She opened one eye to see Mumbo's body running around like a headless chicken. The sight was a bit ridiculous, until she saw Mumbo's head pop back out from his shoulders. The huge snake slithered toward her. She didn't feel any fear as it approached her. She sensed the snake wasn't going to harm her as it slithered behind her. It rose its head up behind Raven and rested it slightly on her left shoulder. Raven rubbed its scaly chin and heard an almost purring-hissing sound come from the monstrous snake. She glanced at the frighten Mumbo and tilted her head to rest on the snakes'.

"You better run for your life before my scaly friend here decides to eat you whole," Raven said.

The snake rose its head up a bit and spat Mumbo's hat out. Mumbo inched down to get his hat. He kept both eyes on the snake as he retrieved his hat. The snake glared at him and flicked its tongue at him. Mumbo screamed pathetically and ran like the dickens back to Jump City. The snake melted into shadows and reformed into Sin. He reared back his head and rolled with laughter.

He stopped laughing long enough to say, "I needed that!" And started laughing more manically.

"I'm surprised you didn't eat him," Raven said.

Sin cocked his head to the side. "I don't eat junk food," he snickered and started laughing again.

Raven started laughing and their laughter filled the woods.

In the clearing Robin was still concentrating on calling a familiar. He reached out with his mind, imagining he was whistling for an animal to come to him. He did this for who knows how long. He was beginning to feel really silly sitting there in the middle of the woods with no clothes on, but he didn't give up. He concentrated harder and imagined whistling louder. He then suddenly felt a presence come near him. He saw in his mind a creature come stalking out of the woods.

Robin waited to see what the creature would do. It slowly walked up to him in his mind as it reached the edge of the circle Robin saw what it was. It was a wolf that looked like it was made of shadows. It walked around the circle and sniffed the air. Robin didn't do anything as the shadowy wolf circled him. It looked like it was about to leave, but then it walked into the circle. Robin felt the circle come alive as a dark energy rose up from the runes.

Robin almost gasped when he felt the shadowy wolf sniff his face. It felt so real he almost rose his hand to touch it. He gripped his hands over his knees and waited to see what it would do. The wolf looked stared into his mind's eye. It looked at him for a moment and raised its head up to the moon and an eerie howl came from the wolf. It looked back at Robin and nodded its head. Robin reached up slowly to touch the wolf. He was greatly surprised when he felt something almost solid and furry in front of him. He stroked the wolf's fur and stretched its ear. The wolf nudged its nose in his hand affectionately and licked it. Robin laughed lightly as the wolf licked his hand. It stepped away from Robin and looked at his mind's eye again. This time the wolf's eyes held a predatory look that showed it was an animal to never underestimate. It showed Robin his power and strength through its eyes. Robin could only look back at the wondrous creature before him. It howled once more and lunged at Robin.

Robin felt the wolf's paws hit him and got thrown back. He felt a power build up in his chest as the wolf stood over him. It howled once more as its body began to fall in Robin's body. He felt a rush of heat feel his cold body. It ripped through him like wildfire. His skin heated up with the power and he screamed in agony. Robin opened his eyes and a howl broke out of him. He rolled over on his stomach and clawed at the ground under him. His body began to change. Black fur started to grow out of his skin. He heard his bones began to crackle as they begun to change. His legs bents and reshaped into hind legs like an animals. His hands slowly began to turn into paws. His face reached out into a muzzle. His ears rose to the top of his head and became pointy.

Soon where once the boy wonder was crawling on the ground; there was now a black furred wolf with one red eye, and one purple eye, shaking its fur. Robin looked around with his wolf eyes. The clearing looked brighter than it did with his vampiric night vision. He sniffed the air and walked about the clearing, getting used to this strange form. With one whiff of the air, the world around him came to life. He could smell everything around him for miles. He smelled the animals in the woods. The changing winds told him where each one was. The trees each told him a different story with every sniff.

Robin was so excited with what his nose told him. He almost forgot he had to go find Sin, until he heard laughter close by. He perked his ears up and sensed with his mind. He quickly sensed Sin and ran in the direction he sensed Sin was at. Robin ran through the woods with the ease and grace of the animal he changed into. Robin ran with vigor to the spot. Under less then five minutes Robin ran into the clearing where Sin and Raven were laughing. Sin quickly stopped laughing and glanced at the wolf. Raven stopped and looked at the wolf in wonder. Raven sensed the wolf in front of her was Robin.

"Robin? Is that you?" Raven asked cautiously

Robin nodded his head and walked up to her. She got on her knees as Robin came to her. She raised a hand and stroked his thick fur. Robin panted happily and started licking her face.

"Robin, stop that! You're breath stinks!" Raven giggled, trying to push him away.

Something nudged her from behind and she let out a small yelp. She looked behind her and saw a panther was red eyes and a Cheshire smile on its face.

"Sin?" Raven said.

The great cat strolled up next to her and rubbed its face along her cheek. Robin, wanting Raven's attention, whimpered and nudged her arm. Raven smiled and scratched his left ear while stroking the panther's neck. A soft purring came from the panther as it curled up behind her. She leaned her back on the panther and Robin sat in her lap. She stroked his fur and relaxed in the warmth from the two. Sin looked at Robin's familiar form and laughed in his mind.

' _Figures, a wolf would be Robin's familiar. Now let's see how adapted he is in it!'_ Sin thought.

Sin rose his tail up and whipped Robin's muzzle with it. Robin yelped and growled at the tail. Sin quickly raised and moved his tail before Robin went to bite it as he got up. Raven yelped in surprised and fell on her back.

"A little warning next time!" Raven growled at the panther.

She heard a wicked laughter fill her mind _. 'Sorry, Raven, but now it's time to see how well Robin can perform in his familiar form!'_ Sin mentally said.

He ran past Robin, whipping his face again with his tail, and running off into the woods. Robin growled and chased after him.

"Oh, sure! I'll just wait here then!" Raven said sarcastically.

Robin chased Sin all around in the woods. Sin would jump behind a tree and reappear somewhere else. Robin's wolf sense helped him track Sin, but the older Nosferatu was faster than him. Every time he saw the panther it disappeared before he could reach it.

Sin jumped into a tree and watched Robin's progress. He lounged on the branch like a normal cat and started licking his paw.

' _He's using his senses, good, but he'll need to use more than that to find me,'_ Sin thought to himself.

Then he felt Robin's mind probe and the next thing that happen was Robin jumping up into the tree his was in.

' _Whoa!'_ Sin thought, as he jumped to the ground and ran. _'This boy is something else! AHAHAHAHA! But now it's time to see if he can defend himself!'_

Sin halted and flipped around to face the wolf chasing him. Robin slid to a stop and ducked his head in time to miss him getting his face racked by Sin's claws. Sin slashed at him again, making Robin jump back from him.

' _What's the big idea?'_ Robin mentally said.

' _To be the animal you must learn all its traits, mainly its ability to fight!'_ Sin said, jumping at Robin with his claws.

Robin leaped to the side and tried to bite Sin's left paw, but sin flipped in the air to kill his momentum and land two feet away from Robin. Robin lunged at Sin, baring his teeth. Sin dodged Robin and slashed his flank. Robin howled in pain and fell to the ground. He looked at his flank and saw Sin had slashed him deep. It came apparent to Robin that Sin was taking this fight seriously. Robin rolled back to his feet and lunged at Sin again. Sin dodged again and was going to slash at Robin again. Robin hoped Sin would do that and rolled in the air. He kicked with his front paws in Sin's face. They both fell to the ground, hard.

Sin shook his head and was about to get back on his feet when Robin jumped on top of him. Sin slashed out with front claws to step Robin from biting into his neck. He rolled on his back and pushed with his hind legs under Robin. He tossed him a few feet away from him and into a tree. Robin slammed into the tree and yelped in pain. Before he could get back to his feet, Sin came down on him with his right paw over his throat. Robin froze, waiting for Sin's next move. Sin widened his Cheshire smile and got off of Robin.

' _If this was a real fight, Robin, you'd be dead now,'_ Sin said.

' _You got the better advantage. You're bigger than me,'_ Robin said.

The panther growled at Robin. _'Size has nothing to do it, Robin! You should know that better than me. It's how you use that brain of yours in a fight. You may be in a wolf's body, but you can still use that brain of yours to outmaneuver an opponent. We will practice more on using your familiar form tomorrow night. Follow me back to the clearing and I'll teach you how to change back,'_ Sin said.

' _Ok, but can that wait a bit. I'm having fun being a wolf!'_ Robin said excitedly.

' _Until I teach you to change back. Then you can be a wolf whenever you like, but it becomes harder to change back to your original self if you stay in that form for too long,'_ Sin said, walking off.

' _Really! Then lets hurry! I don't want to be stuck as a wolf forever!'_ Robin said, breaking out in a run to the clearing.

Sin shook his head. _'And a second ago he wanted to stay as a wolf. Heh, heh! The young are so amusing!'_ Sin thought to himself as he ran to catch up to Robin.

They made it back to the clearing and Sin walked over to the circle. He sat down and watched Robin pace back and forth in front of him.

' _Stop pacing, you need to be still to change back,'_ Sin said.

Robin immediately stopped and lied down.

' _To change back, you must first picture yourself in your mind and will your body to turn into that form,'_ Sin instructed.

Robin did as he said and focused on his human form. Nothing happened at first, but then Robin felt his body slowly changing back. The fur shrank back into his skin and his paws turned back to hands. His legs bent back into their original angle. After a minute Robin was back to his old self.

Robin stiffly stood to his feet. He glanced at Sin to see he had already changed back to his devilish self.

"That's exhausting!" Robin said.

"The first time always is, but after some time it won't drain you so much," Sin said.

"Ok, we better go get Raven. She's probably irritated we left her alone for so long," Robin said, walking off.

"Umm, Robin," Sin called after him.

"Yeah,?" Robin said.

"As much as she would like to see you naked. Don't you think it would be best to put your clothes back on?" Sin said.

"Huh?" Robin said.

Then it hit him that he wasn't wearing any clothes. Robin quickly covered himself and ran to where his clothes laid. Sin chuckled wickedly and walked to the circle. He rose his hand up and streams of shadows shot out and they mess up the dirt. Less then a second the circle no longer existed. Robin got fully dressed and walked next to Sin.

"Let's go back to Raven," Robin said.

Sin nodded his head and touched his shoulder. They teleported back to Raven and found her sitting patiently on the log.

"Are you guys done?" Raven asked.

"For tonight, yes," Sin said.

"Good, because I'm getting tired, it's been a long day," Raven said, suppressing a yawn.

She walked over to them and Sin touched her shoulder. He teleported them back to Robin's room.

"Come here, Robin, you need to feed," Sin said, rolling up his sleeve.

Robin came to Sin and sank his teeth into Sin's wrist. After he got his fill he let go and got into bed. Raven joined him and the two quickly fell to sleep in each others arms. Sin stood there watching them rest. He walked over to Raven's side and stroked her hair.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I couldn't stop my dear Cynthia's death, but I can promise you now. I will keep you both safe," Sin said softly before disappearing into darkness.

He reappeared in a hidden room. This room was his sanctuary during the daylight hours. A black coffin sat in the middle of the room on a small platform. On the lid there was a symbol of a panther's head with two snakes wrapped around its neck. The snake's heads coiled up above the panthers head with opened mouths to the sides. Sin walked over to a huge chest, sitting at the foot of the platform. He kneeled on one knee and opened the chest. He reached in and fumbled around the contents, until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a ring wrapped with a white ribbon. He unfolded the ribbon and looked at a gold ring with a blood red gem embedded in it. The ring was all he had left his Sire. It was the ring he gave her to commence their love for each other. He glanced at the two objects in his hands. He wrapped the ribbon round in his hand and glanced at the ring.

"I miss you both so much. I know you two are dead. I must get over that fact…but I can't still help but feel I could have done something. I couldn't save you two back then, but I can protect my little dark ones now. I pity the creature that dares to try and take them away from me," Sin said.

He wrapped the white ribbon around the ring and placed them back in the chest. He opened the lid to his coffin and laid down in it. He closed the lid and drifted to sleep with one thought running in his mind.

' _I will protect them…'_

A/N: Tell me what you guys think. I hope you liked this chapter. Oh, I forgot to mention earlier, but I'm looking for someone whose very good at drawing. If any of you are good with art please contact me. I don't have enough time to draw some artwork for my website. I would greatly appreciate it if you could help me out with that! Thanks! Till next update, see ya!


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: See pervious chapter.

A/N: Yeah, I'm still alive. My apologizes to everyone who has been waiting very patiently for me to update. College takes up a lot of my time, but this quarter is almost over, so I'll have more time for my stories. Another thing holding me up was my old computer wouldn't let me download my backups for my work. When I tried to get them out they got deleted! Grr! That ticked me off so much, since that happened I had to go back and rework on the lost data. Anyway, while I was working I decided to start revising my chapters. This is going to be the last time I say this, but please go back and reread this story, you'll find quite a few changes. I'm still working on a few chapters, but I've kept all of you waiting long enough, so I started typing this one up for you all.

Thanks go to Kokuryu: Thanks, man, for everything you've helped me with. If it hadn't been for you I wouldn't have gotten this chapter started.

Special Note: You all really need to thank Kokuryu for this chapter. He helped me work on this chapter and get it started. All of you need to go read his stories, mainly one in particular, 'The Crow: Black Robin', go and read and review it for him, it's a great story and it deserves credit. If you don't review it I'm not going to hurry with the next update. I'll be checking to see if anyone has checked his story out, if I see you've all left him some descent reviews, and then I'll start on the next chapter, not until then.

Personal Note: Fellow writers and readers. Today something unthinkable has happened. A fellow vampire TT fanfic writer, SHINAGAMI VIRUS, has had his story, _Robin, my Houkounin_ , deleted off of . The reason for this is someone thought the content in the story wasn't fit to be on . All rational supporters of any pairing should know better. Most of us who hang out on live in countries whose governments are either democracies or constitutional monarchies. In such governments, respect for the ideas and beliefs of others is a common virtue because everyone is a free and equal citizen under the law. So it should be with the fanfiction community. We are all capable of writing great things and we all have a right to write what we wish to write. That right should be respected by all of us in the fanfiction community, not trampled by those that believe they have moral authority to decide what stories should be written. We all have are own beliefs and way of thinking, but it also takes more to be respectful of others with thoughts different from our own. We all must respect one another's choices as is what every writer on here must do. To say you hate something, because it's not what you like is both self-centered and disrespectful. So, please, keep this in mind and give your support to SHINAGAMI VIRUS. He was very much hurt by this turn of events and needs all our support.

 **Death's Greetings**

The next night, the Titans were lounging about the tower. There hasn't been a single sign of trouble all day, so they relaxed while they could. Except for Robin, who was beginning his new training with Sin in the training room. Around nine, something happened at the tower that hardly ever happens often…they got a visitor.

"Guys, we got somebody at the main entrance," Cyborg informed everyone.

"Who?" Beast Boy asked.

"No clue. All he said was he must speak with Sin," Cyborg said with a serious tone.

They all fell quiet at that bit news. Sin told them to never let anyone know who he was or confirm they knew him at all.

"What did you tell him?" Raven asked.

"I told him we never heard of him…but this guys says he knows Sin is here, and he said to tell Sin he was sent by…Stefan," Cyborg replied with a grim expression.

"Stefan? You mean that guy Sin warned us about?" Speedy said.

"That bloodthirsty fuck who's supposedly worse than Sin?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yeah…I kept telling him Sin wasn't here, but this guy won't take no for an answer!" Cyborg replied.

"Well, what should we do?" Beast Boy asked, looking at everyone worriedly.

"I think we need to tell Sin," Raven said.

"Yeah, he'll know how to deal with this. Raven, you better go and tell him," Cyborg said.

"All right," Raven said and headed off to the training room.

She hurried to the training room, there she found Sin and Robin sparing.

' _Huh? I thought they were done sparing?'_ Raven thought as she watched the two.

Sin and Robin were circling each other, watching the other for any signs for an attack.

"Now, Robin, the reason we have familiars are more than just to have the ability to shape-shift. They also give use advantages in battle," Sin instructed.

"What kind of advantages?" Robin asked.

"Our creature to call gives us _certain_ qualities. For instants, my panther familiar gives me more agility and procession with my movements," Sin replied. "It gives me the awareness of how I move my body."

"So what would my wolf familiar give me?" Robin wondered.

"A wolf is renowned for being a cunning hunter, it can escape those that hunt it and pass by most dangers invisibly. It's also good for outwitting those who wish you harm," Sin replied. "In your case, I imagine your familiar will help you deal with outmaneuvering your opponent."

"Interesting," Robin said.

"Yes, but there's more…" Sin purred with a wicked smile.

"More?" Robin uttered.

"Indeed, a familiar also gives you another ability during a battle," Sin said, pulling back his right hand.

Robin prepared for whatever Sin was about to do…or so he thought.

Sin's hand melted into darkness and formed into a snake's head. He shot his hand out and the snake that was his hand rushed towards Robin. It darted around Robin and quickly wrapped its coils around him, pinning his arms and legs together.

"Hey!" Robin shouted as the shadow snake tightened around him.

Robin struggled fiercely, but the shadow snake wouldn't let go of him. _'Come on, Robin, think!'_ he scolded himself. _'How do you get out of this!'_ Then suddenly an idea popped in his head. _'If this snake is a part of Sin, then he's got to feel its pain!'_

Robin leaned his head down and bit the shadowy flesh of the snake. He was a little surprised blood came out of the snake when his fangs ripped into its scales. It gave out a out loud hiss as the corner of Sin's mouth twitched. The snake loosened enough for Robin to slip free. The snake retracted into Sin's sleeve and reformed into his hand.

"Good, you figured out how to get free. Now try summoning your familiar, but don't change into a wolf, let it form apart of you into a deadly tool," Sin said, readying himself.

Robin concentrated, this time only on shifting part of himself according to his familiar. Soon enough, he had grown claws. He flexed his claws and grinned wickedly, wanting to try them out, he dashed at Sin and slashed at him, who jumped back in time to keep the claws from ripping his stomach open.

"Wow," Raven finally spoke up.

Both Nosferatu stopped where they were and glanced at the empath.

"Oh, hey, Raven. What brings you here?" Robin asked.

As Robin spoke to Raven, his claws disappeared, returning his hands back to normal.

Raven looked at Sin with a worried expression. "There's someone here to see you."

"Who?" Sin asked. "I thought nobody knew I was here."

"That's what we thought, too," Raven replied.

"Well, who is this person who wishes to see me?" Sin asked.

"We don't know who he is…but he said he sent by Stefan," Raven replied.

"Stefan," Sin growled. "It figures. Only a psychotic and obsessive bastard like him would have the determination required to track me down."

"What do you want us to tell this messenger?" Raven asked.

"Nothing, if Stefan took the time to track me down, then it must be of some importance," Sin inquired with a dark look in his crimson eyes. "Tell him I'll meet him in the main hall. I don't want whoever he sent to get too far into the tower…"

"Why?" Robin asked.

"Stefan has…disturbing methods of how to conduct business. This messenger will most likely not be what he appears to be," Sin replied.

"All right," both Titans said.

So Sin went to the front door of Titans Tower to greet Stefan's little messenger boy. Robin and the others followed behind him to see what will transpire, but they stood a good distance from Sin and the messenger boy.

The messenger was a ragged looking man, with a rugged and sickly looking face. He was dressed up in normal clothes, looking about in his middle twenties.

"So, what does your master wish to tell me?" Sin hissed.

The man was shaking oddly, like he was having a hard time standing still. He looked up at Sin with a blank, empty look in his pale eyes.

"M-My master h-has ordered m-me to come h-here s-so I can deliver-r his m-message," the messenger quivered.

"Don't waste my time! Tell me what that uptight asshole wants with me," Sin growled.

The messenger cringed with fright by Sin's words. "H-He wishes to tell you h-himself. My master hears what I hear. H-He sees w-what I see!" the messenger replied before he started jerking involuntarily.

Sin gazed at the messenger in disgust. He knew all too well what was happening to this poor being. An evil presence filled the room, and then messenger suddenly straightened himself and looked at Sin with an arrogant and cold expression.

"Hello, my old friend. It's been far too long since last we talked," an empty and chilling voice slithered out of the messenger's mouth.

Sin's pupils neared to thin lines as he glared at the messenger. "Hello…Stefan. I see you haven't changed your habits."

"Why should I?" Stefan said. "They're perfectly good habits as I see them. Anyway, I see you're living with a bunch of mortal teenagers."

Sin tightened his fist unconsciously. "What do you want with me, Stefan. I thought I told you to never contact me again?"

"Why, you didn't mean that, did you? Hehe! Anyway, what I want of you has to do with that half-demon behind you," Stefan replied, looking at Raven like a specimen.

Sin eyed Stefan dangerously. "I know that look in your eye, you sick bastard! I'm not going to bring you her! And what makes you think I'll do what you say, anyways? _No body_ tells me what to do," Sin said, baring his fangs.

"Oh, are you still mad at me for that time I slaughtered that orphanage and used what was left for my experiments?" Stefan jeered with a mocking smile.

"What do you think!" Sin said through clinched teeth.

"Come now…Sin, isn't it now? What a fitting name for someone like you. The Bringer of Death himself. The man who feels no remorse for breaking every cardinal rule. The slayer of-."

"Enough! Don't you dare speak to me about such things!" Sin roared.

"Why shouldn't I?" Stefan asked. "Isn't honestly the best policy, as some humans are fond of saying? Don't your new human friends have the right to know what they're getting into with one such as yourself?"

"Shut up," Sin growled.

"Does the remembered truth hurt?" Stefan asked. He smirked cruelly at the other Nosferatu. "Ah. It appears that your new friends, particularly your little fledging and his half-demon slut, have helped you rediscover your human heart. Tsk, tsk. What a waste."

Everyone expected Sin to go berserk…but he didn't. His angry expression switched to his devilish one. "At least, I know I still have a heart. Look at you, it's so pathetic, it's sad even to look at you. _AHAHAHA!_ You, who relies on this corny display of power. What self-respecting Nosferatu would be so afraid to talk directly to me, that he has to talk through another?" Sin sneered darkly, breaking out in a wicked laughter.

Stefan growled in rage. Alas, he should have known better than to underestimate Sin, for doing so ultimately led to getting the tables turned on the fool.

"Ah, so you can get mad under that cold exterior, huh? It's your own fault for being a coward to make you send this piece of trash to me," Sin jeered.

"You'll regret crossing me, Sin," Stefan snarled. "And I'll make sure that the little family you've made for yourself here suffers along with you." His presence left his messenger's body, as he had no further use for him.

Sin slowly stopped laughing. His expression turned serious and slightly worried.

"…Sin?" Robin said, walking up next to him.

"We're in trouble, Robin," Sin replied. "Deep, deep trouble."

"How deep?" Beast boy asked.

Sin turned his head to the side, and replied, "About as far deep as it gets."

Sin returned his attention to the shaky messenger. The guy looked like he was about to have a panic attack. Sin walked up to the man and touched the side of his face with his left hand.

"You poor creature, what horrors you must have gone through, because of your master," Sin said softly.

The man was too afraid to move. He knew what was in store for him when he returned to his master.

"No…no. You needn't worry about your master. He cannot harm you anymore," Sin said after seeing what ran through his mind.

"Y-You-you promise!" the man whimpered.

Sin pulled the man into a hug, and whispered into his ear softly. "I promise…" Then the blade of Sin's sword erupted out from the top of the man's skull. All, except Robin and Raven, gasped when they saw the sword slice out of the man's head.

"Was that really necessary?" Cyborg asked.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Beast Boy added, his face an even paler shade of green than before.

Sin pulled his sword out of the man's skull. The body slumped to the floor. There wasn't a look of horror or pain on his face. The man had a look of peace as he closed his eyes.

"He was already dead. He was a zombie…a poor soul Stefan dug up to do his dirty deeds. I merely made sure he didn't suffer by his hands anymore," Sin replied, sheathing his sword back into his jacket.

Robin looked down and noticed the body was beginning to disintegrate into a pool of green ooze.

"Oh, shit! I think I'm gonna-!" Beast Boy said, covering his mouth and running off to the nearest restroom. Then the sounds of retching could be heard.

"So, _Sin_ , what did Stefan mean about us not knowing what we're getting into with the likes of you?" Speedy asked.

"Not now, Speedy," Sin hissed as he looked deep in thought.

"No, I think we have a right to know what exactly is going on with you, if you're going to live with us," Speedy insisted.

"Lay off, Speedy," Robin growled.

"I must agree with Robin in this respect," Starfire said. "Much like Raven, Sin is complicated. There are things about him we may not be able to understand or may not wish to know."

"Yeah, but there's a big difference between Sin and Raven," Speedy said.

"Speedy…" Robin warned.

"Raven has a pulse and doesn't go around biting people's neck! Or hide secrets from her friends!" Speedy pressed on.

"And what does having a pulse have to do with anything?" Raven asked, deciding that Speedy was acting like a total prick.

"Well! Ur…umm?" Speedy stumbled.

"See, now shut the fuck up!" Raven said.

Sin started pacing as he pondered what to do. His eyes shifted from side to side, as he murmured to himself.

"Just look at him! Can't you see there's a serious problem with that bloodsucker!" Speedy shouted.

"And when he's ready, he'll talk to us about it," Cyborg replied calmly.

"Arh! What's wrong with all of you? If Sin wasn't bad enough, now we got another fucking blood drinking corpse to deal with! All this because of-whoop!" Robin had enough of hearing Speedy bitch. He punched him in the face, not with all his strength, though it was tempting, just enough to knock Speedy off his feet. Starfire went to Speedy's side as he sat up and wiped his bloodied lip.

"Robin! What the fuck was that for?" Speedy asked.

"You were being a prick," Robin replied in an almost casual tone, as if he was just talking about something he read in the newspaper.

Sin suddenly stopped pacing and started laughing madly. He was laughing so hard, he looked like he was about to fall down.

"Either Sin came up with something or he just went off the deep end on us?" Cyborg said.

"Dunno," Beast Boy replied.

"Beast Boy!" Starfire exclaimed. "You have ceased regurgitating the contents of your stomach!"

"Yeah…nothing's left for me to puke up, so my stomach finally stopped," Beast Boy said, holding his upset stomach.

Sin calmed down and brushed his bangs back. "Heh! Stefan is in for a rude awakening!"

"What do you mean, Sin?" Raven asked.

Sin grinned devilishly. "I have some resources that will help us deal with Stefan. He's not a favorite of anyone in the Council."

"The Council?" Robin said.

"Yes, the figure-heads of our kind. We're mostly a democracy, so we don't have any real leaders, but we do have some who keeps us governed," Sin replied.

"Could you tell us more about this 'Council'?" Starfire asked.

"No harm in telling you lot. There are five members in the Council. They keep us in order and prevent any Nosferatu from raising too high in power. If a Nosferatu becomes a threat to our kind. They are the ones to decide how best to deal with them accordingly," Sin said.

"What makes you think such people like them will help us?" Beast Boy asked, crossing his arms behind his head.

Sin tiled his head and smirked at Beast boy. "One of the Council members is an old friend of mine. He'll help us if I ask him."

"So, we won't have any trouble with that creepy guy? All right! Things are looking up!" Beast Boy cheered.

"Not really, Beast Boy. Stefan isn't going to wait around. He will most definitely try something soon…" Sin said.

"We'll be ready for him," Robin said.

"Sure about that?" Sin asked. "Let me tell you this: _No one_ is ready for Stefan. That bastard is so deranged that he defies any and all logic that you could apply to him. Even other vampires fear him!"

"So, what can we do?" Cyborg said.

"Put this tower on high alert. Be ready for anything that looks suspicious! Stefan will try something on us, be sure of that," Sin replied. He turned away from them, and a dark void opened up in front of him. "I must go and contact my friend. I'll return shortly. No one is to leave the Tower under any circumstance!" Sin said before walking into the dark void.

Speedy scoffed. "Yeah, right. Like I'm taking orders from some crazed bloodsucker."

"Fine, then don't expect us to help you when Stefan finds you and rips your throat out," Raven stated.

Speedy looked away, grumbling under his breath.

"You do what you want, Speedy. No one's making you do anything, but if Sin is worried, then we all should be," Robin said.

"Come on, guys. We need to put the Tower on high-stasis alert and get ready for whatever Stefan's gonna do," Cyborg said.

"I might as well practice," Robin said to himself. Robin smirked and looked at Speedy evilly. "Hey, Speedy. Wanna help me with some target practice?" His Evil Eye glowed slightly in intimidation.

"Uh, sure," Speedy replied.

Beast Boy leaned close to Raven, cupping a hand over his mouth. "Dead man walking."

Raven couldn't help it, but Beast Boy actually said something funny. She giggled and watched Beast Boy's expression turn to shock, making her giggle slightly more.

"Sweet!" Beast Boy exclaimed. "Hey, wait, I wasn't even trying to be funny!"

Raven didn't reply; she followed Robin and Speedy to the training room to watch Robin mangle the prick. Cyborg and the other boys went off to set their security system. Starfire fidgeted, wondering what to do, then decided to join Raven.

"So how does this target practice work?" Speedy asked.

"I shoot at you with my Evil Eye and you try not to get hit," Robin replied. "You're perfectly free to shoot back if you wish; you could use the practice."

"What? Robin, are you quite sure that's safe thing to do?" Starfire pondered.

"Oh, it's quite safe, Starfire…if Speedy dodges in time," Robin cooed darkly.

"If he dodges in time?" Starfire gawked.

Speedy gulped as he got into a fighting position. He rose his bow and readied an arrow.

"You go first," Robin offered.

Speedy made sure that he had Robin dead in his sights, and then he fired. However, Robin was not in the same place he had been by the time the arrow was fired. In fact, he was nowhere to be seen. Speedy looked around fanatically for the Boy Wonder.

"Looking for me?" Robin asked, tapping him on the shoulder from behind.

Speedy swirled around to fire his arrow, but he caught a faint glow at the corner of his eye. Speedy ducked in time to miss Robin's beam.

"I see your reflexes are just fine," Robin remarked. "But that was one shot." He fired another one.

Speedy had to literally fall to his stomach to miss the next beam. He flipped back to his feet and shot an arrow at Robin in mid-flip. Robin chuckled as he shot another beam, destroying the arrow and nicking some of Speedy's hair. Speedy tumbled to the floor, as he clutched the side of his head. The beam did more than just singe some of his hair. Speedy felt the anger in the attack, the pure negativity of Robin's emotions.

"Had enough?" Robin asked coolly.

Speedy's reply was to fire another arrow at Robin. Robin twisted at the hips to let the arrow fly by his head. Speedy got to his feet and rammed his fist into Robin's stomach.

"I'm sorry; was that supposed to hurt?" Robin asked.

If it hadn't been what Robin said that baffled him, it was that when he punched Robin. Robin's was a solid as steel. Speedy pulled back his numb hand, staring at the Boy Wonder in horror. Robin really has changes since he last fought him in Master of Games tournament.

"I won't kill you," Robin replied. "I still consider you a friend, and I don't kill my friends. However, I would like you to treat Sin with more respect. He isn't even half the monster you think he is."

"But...Robin, can't you see what he's doing to you? You're so different. You've become so-so...dark," Speedy said.

"Something wrong with that?" Robin asked. "Darkness isn't evil, Speedy. Not as long as you don't let it consume you. It is those who surrender their own free will to the darkness that make it appear evil."

Speedy looked into Robin's eyes. His Evil Eye was bleeding out of the corner, giving the impression he was crying, but he knew he wasn't. Speedy saw the truth in his words through his wicked eyes. The darkness and wildness mixed together with the anger in that weird eye...but no evil, no ruthlessness he's seen in many criminals before.

"Do you see the truth now?" Robin asked. He smiled and extended his left hand to Speedy. "I think you've had enough for today. Why don't you get some rest," Robin suggested.

"Thanks," Speedy replied. "And . . . sorry. About how I've treated you, Raven, and Sin since all this started."

"It's ok," Robin said, smiling. It was the same way he had smiled when he and Speedy first reconciled after the fight with the Master of Games.

Speedy took his hand and shook it gingerly. He parted hands and Speedy put his bow away. He glanced at the girls and was happy to Starfire smiling brightly at him. There were times he would have done anything to get her to smile like that. Now, he knew she was smiling, because he made her happy. Alas, such simpler times were now over. He needed to put aside his anger for the crazy vampire. For now they truly had a vampire to worry about.

Robin read Speedy's thoughts. "Yes, we got to stop fighting among ourselves if we're going to deal with his freak," Robin said.

Speedy didn't let the fact that Robin read his mind bother him. If he was going to let go of his anger, he had to get used to Robin's new traits. Speedy smiled as he walked over to Starfire and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Robin felt a twitch of jealousy by the act. He still loved Starfire, after all the years they've spent together, he couldn't help but still feel it for her. But when he glanced at Raven, he felt the true meaning of love. She, and a certain crazy vampire, filled the empty void inside him. Robin smiled to himself. Who knew dying and being reborn as a Nosferatu would be the way to true happiness? He chuckled to himself and walked over to his dark mistress. He gestured for her to take his arm and she obliged. They walked into the shadowy hallway, to enjoy the rest of the evening in the peaceful darkness.

Somewhere in a hidden part of England, a dark void appeared in a dreary chamber, with only one candle lighting the room. Sin stepped out and immediately glanced at the center of the room. There sat a man looking in his forties, wearing a crimson druid-like robe. He had a calm and almost wholesome presence. He sat in an old wood crafted chair by an antique table. On the table laid the candle, and a bottle of wine. Sin took a moment to study the man sitting down. At one time, he might have had brown hair, but it had faded to a dark grey over the years. His skin was slightly wrinkled, but he still looked in his prime. For the most part he would have looked like a man almost past his prime. Sin chuckled to himself as he knew the truth that this man wouldn't lose that appearance. All one had to do was look and see the man had crimson eyes to know what he was.

"Been a long time, Charion," Sin said with a devilish grin.

"Hello, Sin," Charion greeted. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."

"Heh, heh! You know I like my privacy, but I haven't come for pleasantries," Sin said.

"Oh? The Angel of the Night actually wishing to discuss business. Something must be wrong for you to come here for that purpose," Charion mused.

"Yes," Sin confirmed. "Stefan has begun to rear his twisted head again."

"Stefan you say?" The old Nosferatu sighed. "Yes, we've been aware of him for some time now. He's been steady growing more powerful, but he's smart enough to not go over our set limit, but I fear that won't stop him."

"Like that's news to anyone," Sin said sarcastically.

"Ha, ha! Still the sarcastic, uncaring bastard, aren't you, Sin?" Charion teased.

"I've changed since the last time we met," Sin said in a cryptic tone.

"Yes, thanks to that boy you turned and his lover," Charion added. "Don't be surprised. I've been keeping tabs on you for a while now."

Sin chuckled darkly as he took an empty by Charion. "I seem to be slipping in my age. I'm usually good at keeping things from leaking out for everyone to know."

"Never thought I'd hear you admit to slipping. You really have changed, my friend. I can see a sense of peace in those wild eyes of yours," Charion said.

Sin waved a hand to end the subject. "We'll talk about my new outlook in life later. Right now I want to know what you, and the Council, are planning to do about Stefan. It won't be long until he gets tired of your limits and goes rogue."

Charion glanced at Sin oddly when he heard a worried tone in the crazy vampire's voice. "You seem worried about Stefan. What happened that made you come to me?" Charion asked worriedly, it was rare when the crazy vampire was worried.

"He came to my current residence," Sin replied. "Actually, he sent his messenger and confronted me through him."

"Humph! That sounds like Stefan, all right. He loves to flaunt his powers at everyone," Charion said curtly.

"Yes, and he's quite upset with me, again! Hehe, hehe!" Sin chuckled amusedly.

Charion shook his head slowly. "He still hasn't forgiving you for leaving, you know?"

"I got sick of his twisted habits," Sin replied dryly.

"Come now, Sin. There's more to why you left. Don't try denying it," Charion said.

"Like I'm telling you," Sin replied.

"Stubborn as always. I still don't understand why you left, not when you were offered a place on the Council," Charion said.

"That's one of many reasons why I left. You know just as well as anyone I hate politics. I'd rather be caught out in the sunlight, then be stuck brewing business that in none of my concern," Sin replied dryly.

Charion gazed at his old friend. True enough, he never attended a meeting or tried to get involved with anything. Far from it, he'd do everything to keep himself out of anything political. Sin was always in every way a loner. He was one the few people Sin considered a friend. He was happy to find out the news about Sin's fledging. He always worried Sin would always be reclusive till the end of time, but now he saw some changes in his friend. Not many people could read Sin, because of his shrouded nature. But Charion knew Sin long enough to see the changes. His friend's devilish grin looked softer than last he saw it. He had a sense of peace about him where it used to be menacing. Charion rubbed a black ring with a symbol of a bat on it, as he pondered how much his friend changed. Sin glanced at the bottle on the table.

"May I?" Sin asked.

"Of course. I always keep a bottle around, just in case you ever decide to pay me a visit. I only wish you came here to chat, not for help," Charion replied.

Sin reached over and opened the bottle, as he did so; two glasses appeared on the table. Sin poured himself and Charion a glass and set the bottle back on the table. Sin took a moment to smell the sweet aroma before he took a sip. Charion shifted in his chair uncomfortable. Sin sighed and glanced at him.

"Go ahead and say it, Charion," Sin said.

Charion cleared his throat before he spoke up. "There are rumors going about that you're fledgling's lover is a half-demon, is this true?"

"Maybe," Sin replied, not liking where this was going.

"Sin, give me a straight answer for once," Charion said annoyed.

"You've known me long enough to know I never give a straight answer," Sin said, chuckling wickedly.

"Please, Sin, this is important. If you do have a half-demon in your possession then-," He stopped talking when he was Sin's eyes flare with dark energy.

"First off, my dear friend, she's not something to own. And I already know what problems this news will bring," Sin said in a dangerous tone.

Charion rose up both hands. "I meant no offense, Sin. I'm merely concern for you what other Nosferatu will do if they find out," Charion said.

"Stefan already knows…" Sin said, narrowing his eyes worriedly.

"What!? If he knows, then it's only a matter of time before he uses her to give him the advantage he needs!" Charion said.

"I know, Charion. I know all too well," Sin replied with a hollowed voice.

"You must bring her here where she will be safe from Stefan. We can't take any chances with him getting a hold of her," Charion said.

Sin didn't reply as he sipped from his glass. Charion was going to speak some more when he saw Sin's aura building up. It surrounded him all a veil of pure darkness. Everything in the room began shaking as Sin rose from his seat. He crushed the glass his glass when he started laughing evilly. Charion backed away from him, not from fright, but in amazement. The power Sin was emitting was unbelievable! He stared at the laughing vampire as the whole room filled with his power.

"I won't allow Stefan _OR_ any Nosferatu to use her. She won't be safe anywhere as long as she lives. If I bring her here I'll only risk her to other vampires, even the Council can't be trusted to not use her!" Sin's aura blasted around as his anger built up, knocking over the table and smacking it against the wall. The candle fell to the floor, but somehow kept from going out. "I pity the creature that dares touch her! I shall send all who wishes to use her blood to a painful eternity in _HELL!"_ Sin roared.

Then just as the energy from Sin started to choke Charion, it disappeared in an instant. Sin stood there with the most evil of smiles on his face. Charion couldn't help it, but even though he's lived for almost for two millennia and seen enough to frighten any human ten times over. He was very much afraid of the vampire standing before him. Sin softened his smile and chuckled softly.

"I know you mean well, Charion. You are one of the few I people I believe has everyone's best intention, but I can't endanger Raven by bringing her here. The temptation would be too great to use her," Sin said.

"What about you? Isn't the temptation too great for even you?" Charion asked.

Sin started laughing maniacally. "I wrote the book on temptation! _AHAHAHAHA!_ Who better to keep her safe than me," Sin replied with a devilish grin.

"Still, you can't protect her by yourself. If not Stefan, then there will be other Nosferatu who will come to claim her. I had no idea you were so powerful, but even you can't take on so many vampires," Charion stated.

Sin's eyes glowed pure crimson. "Let them come! I haven't had a good challenge in such a long time! _AHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin licked his lips in the anticipation of the bloody battles. "Besides, my old friend, I have plans for keeping anyone from using, my Raven. This is why I need your help to keep a lid on this, until the time is right."

"What do you mean? How will you keep her safe?" Charion asked in curiosity.

Sin gave Charion a wicked and mischievous look. The crazy Nosferatu's bangs hid his face in shadows as the darkness wrapped around him. "You will find out soon enough. In the meantime, I need you to keep this a secret and get the Council to keep the other Nosferatu off my back. Also, I need you to get the Council to take action. Stefan is getting too out of hand. He won't rest until he has power over all of us."

"I'll set everything in motion, but it will take time. What do you plan to do if Stefan makes the first move?" Charion pondered.

The darkness had completely covered Sin, leaving only his devilish grin visible.

"Hehe! Then he'll find out why I'm called the Bringer of Death!" Sin crackled, and then the grin vanished.

Charion laughed lightly to himself. _'Same old, Sin. Still the wild card. Hehe!'_ He left the room quickly. There was a lot to get done and there were many channels to go through.

Back at the tower, Cyborg had set the tower on high alert. All the sensors searched for anyone moving so much as an inch on the island. The Titans were prepping themselves for whatever Stefan might do. Cyborg was sitting in the control room, checking all the screens for anything out of place.

"There's no way that guy can get in here without us knowing. If so much as a gentle breeze blows on the tower, we'll know!" Cyborg said proudly.

"All right, I guess we can relax now," Beast Boy remarked sarcastically.

"Uh-huh! No one can sneak up on us with the high-tech gear I've installed. I'll eat some tofu, if anyone somehow manages to get in here without setting off one alarm," Cyborg said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Heh, heh! You better get a plate ready for Cyborg then, huh, BB? _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin said from the doorway.

Cyborg turned his seat around and stared in disbelief. "How did you-!? When did you get here?" Cyborg baffled.

"Can one stop the shadows from gathering in the night? Can one prevent the night from coming? As such is the way of those who belong to the night. We come and go as the shift of the moon, circling the heavenly night," Sin replied sagely with an amused smile.

"A simple answer, like you just teleported in here, would have done," Cyborg grumbled.

Sin broke out laughing. "Heh, heh! Yeah, but that's so boring to say."

Cyborg grumbled some more before turning to Beast Boy. "Go get me some tofu…" he metal man said depressively.

Beast Boy was only too happy to oblige. He ran to the kitchen to get some of his tofu. He came back with a plate full of the stuff. Sin left the room, roaring with laughter, as Cyborg ate the tofu with a look of disgust. He went to go check on Robin and Raven. He sensed their auras were coming from the roof. He jumped and went through the ceiling and kept going, until he floated to the very top of the tower. He lurked in the shadows by the doorway to keep from interrupting his children. Yes…his children, he truly considered them both his in every sense. They were sitting together in each other's arms, with Raven's cloak wrapped around them. The sight made him remember his happier memories. When he was a young fledging himself and the time he and his Sire would spend almost every night holding each other.

He wanted nothing more now, but to keep them safe and happy, if nothing else, for the sake of making sure they had more nights like this together, not the blood-ridding one he has always lived. Strange, that a creature like him could find such simple happiness in two teenagers. For all the time he spent isolating himself from the world, he couldn't help but open up to his dark ones. They reminded him of all the things he used to do with his lost lover. So many years have gone by since that tragic event, but he still could feel the wound in his heart. It didn't ache as it once did, but it never got any better. Maybe, just maybe, his little birds will help him heal it. If not the deep love he had for his mistress, then for the love of companionship, to know they want to be near a devil like him, because they don't see him as one.

' _If I didn't know better I'd swear I'm getting soft. Hehe!'_ Sin thought. _'But now's not the time for this. I have to keep Stefan away from my family.'_ Sin leaned against the wall and smirked to himself. _'Family…I thought I'd never have one again. A strange family, yes, but still worth everything to keep safe.'_

Sin suddenly pushed away from the wall. His head turned to face the harbor, and he bared his fangs. With his vampiric senses he could see anything from great distances. What he saw going into the water from the harbor would have scared anyone, but not Sin, he stalked out of the shadows to Robin and Raven.

"Robin! Raven! We're going to have company very soon! We need to get the others ready," Sin said.

Neither wasted time to ask Sin what was going on. They quickly got up and hurried to tell the others. Sin stayed on the roof and watched more of the things kept jumping into the water. He saw something very huge just plunge into the water, and he could still see it as it started swimming towards the island.

"I was hoping you'd wait a bit longer, Stefan, but patience never was one of your virtues," Sin murmured to himself.

Sin started to descend from the roof to the living room, where he found all the Titans. They were looking set for whatever was coming, but Sin knew they weren't prepared for what was coming. With what little time they had, he needed to get them ready for the nightmare to come.

"Don't think this battle will be like any you've experienced before. You won't be going up against super powered villains or plain criminals. You will be fight things that feel no pain, no guilt, no anger, and no happiness. What's coming our way are mindless creatures with only one purpose…to kill. They won't be merciful or ruthless. They don't understand the meaning of those words. They kill you, plain and simple," Sin said with a blank tone.

"What is coming our way?" Robin asked.

"Abominations…things Stefan created out of his deranged mind. Things that were at one time human now turned into nightmarish horrors. You're better off killing them before they kill you. Think of it as a mercy kill, if that makes it easier," Sin replied.

"What? You mean we're gonna be fighting something that at one time was human?" Beast Boy asked with a horrid look.

"Yes, now don't make me repeat myself! We don't have much time for me to explain this. The only way to kill these abominations is to destroy either the head or the heart. Don't waste your time aiming for the heart, you're better off just going for the head for a sure kill," Sin said.

"How much time do we have left?" Speedy asked, readying his bow.

Sin walked over to the window and glanced outside. He saw the creature coming onto the shore and slowly making there way to the tower. "None. We need to fight them in the opened. If they get into the tower, we'll be outnumbered and pinned down to fight." Sin replied.

He didn't let it show in his face or voice, but he was very worried for them. He saw too many of Stefan's creation coming out of the sea, and he was more worried about the huge one he saw earlier. It hadn't shown itself yet, but it was only a matter of time. Sin grinned devilish, he started laughing maniacally. Even if the things looked bad, he was eager for battle.

"Time to face the nightmare, if you want to conquer fear itself!" Sin mused as he disappeared into the shadows.

"Titans! GO!" Robin said.

The Titans barely got to the main entrance when they heard the moaning. The sound of clawing and banging could be heard outside behind the doors. Robin glanced once over his shoulder to make sure everyone was ready. He sensed all their fear, who could blame them, he was scared himself. Like Sin said, this was going to be a battle unlike any they've had before. They weren't going up against psychotic villains or mutated creatures. They were going to fight real monsters. Things you wouldn't see except in your darkest nightmare. No matter what they would face this night, Robin knew they had to win or risk losing everything. Raven touched his arm and looked at him solemnly. He pulled her close to him and kissed her. If they did die tonight, he wanted to feel his lover's soft lips one last time.

' _Hehe! There's no chance we'll be defeated by these pathetic mannequins. Put your fear aside and focus on the battle, Robin! We'll show Stefan not to mess with our family!'_ Robin heard Sin say in his mind.

Robin pulled away from the kiss and grinned wicked. His Evil Eye blazed with dark energy when he gazed at the doors. Raven glanced at the door with the same grin on her face. The banging got louder as the creature tried to break down the door. As the banging increased in loudness, so did the Titans' heartbeats. Well, the ones that weren't undead, that is. Nevertheless, there was fear in all of them. With the exception of Sin, none of them had even heard of the Abominations before. Despite this, they wouldn't let those unfortunate monsters get the better of them.

Robin was planning to open the doors quickly and have Cyborg, Starfire, Hot Spot, and Speedy be ready to fire on them. Raven would use her telekinesis to hold them at the door. Have her pull them into a narrow spot and cut them down as they stormed through the door. A high-screech of metal twisting came from the doors as the creatures forced their why through the doors. The Titans stared in astonishment as these creatures were peeling the doors back with incredible strength. None of the Titans, except Robin, could see in the darkness what was ripping their why through the doors. If Robin still needed to breathe as a Nosferatu, he would have caught his breath in his throat.

"Whatever you do, don't piss your pants," Robin said.

"You sure we'll be able to hold it in?" Beast Boy asked.

"Should've gone to the bathroom before," Cyborg remarked.

One of the creatures managed to crawl through the opening. At one time, it may have been human, it had a humanoid shape, but that was where the similarity ended.

"I think I'm going to lose all bladder and bowel control now," Beast Boy said.

The creature looked look its skin was falling off of it. It had red glowing eyes, burning with hunger. Instead of having fingernails, it had boned claws at the end of each finger. Its mouth was filled with sharp teeth, like a shark, biting at the air, trying to get to the fresh meat it saw before it. What was stranger about this thing was it had additional mouths snapping on its arms and torso.

"Oh, my god..." Speedy said in silent horror.

"I have never seen such a horrendous creature before," Starfire uttered. "Not even Glyrddlesklech was this repulsive!"

Sin appeared out the shadows next to her. "That is just one of many horrors trying to break in. There is nothing left of their humanity worth saving, princess. All we can do is put them out of their misery," Sin said.

Robin took out a denotation disk and readied to throw it. "Well, I guess we better end their suffering, huh?" Robin replied with a coldness none of them ever heard in his voice before.

' _What's gotten into Robin?'_ Cyborg wondered _. 'He wasn't like this before, not even when we fought Slade!'_

Sin smirked as he drew his sword. "Show no mercy! Put your compassion aside and do what must be done. Only then will you have a chance to survive this fight," Sin said.

Robin threw his denotation disk at the door. It exploded, setting the Abomination and the ones nearest to it, on fire. The explosion, however, blew a big enough hole for the creatures outside to enter. Just as some of the Abominations stormed into the main hall, Speedy and Starfire let loose and bombardment of starbolts and exploding-tipped arrows. Cyborg shifted his right arm into its cannon mode and fired a blue wave of destructive sonic energy at the Abominations. Hot Spot flew up over the entrance and ignited both his arms. He blasted the hole with fire, keeping more of the creatures from getting in.

"How long can you keep that up, Hot Spot?" Robin shouted.

"Not for long!" Hot Spot said with a strained voice.

"We don't know how many of those things are out there, so we're gonna do as Sin advice. We have to get outside and keep them scattered. Hot Spot! When I give the word, burn us a clear way for us through the horde!" Robin said.

"Sure, O Fearless Leader," Hot Spot replied.

"Everyone get ready! We're gonna charge out there and give them hell!" Robin said with an evil smirk.

Sin spin his sword at the ready and began laughing evilly. "Yes, let us revel in the carnage to come! _AHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled.

"You know, I glad Sin's on our side," Beast boy said.

"Why do you say that?" Cyborg asked.

"I think it goes without saying why I'm so happy Sin's on our side," Beast Boy replied.

Cyborg glanced at the laughing vampire. "Yeah...I think I agree with ya on that one," Cyborg said.

Robin took out his Bo Staff and pressed the button for the spearheads. "Ok, Hot Spot! NOW!" Robin said.

Hot Spot pushed his flames out of the hole and spread them out to make a path through the Abominations. The Titans and Sin quickly followed him out and attacked. Beast Boy morphed into a tiger and began tearing and slashing through the Abominations, while Cyborg fired his Sonic Cannon once again. Robin's Evil Eye glowed before it released a blast of negative energy that killed several Abominations. Starfire and Hot Spot took to the air and burnt him to ashes with there combined attack. Wildebeest charged through them, smashing them with his huge fist and feet.

Speedy kept a few of the Abominations from jumping Wildebeest by firing his arrows around his big furry friend. Raven chanted her words and blasted the Abominations with dark telekinetic bolts. Sin dashed through the nightmarish horde, slicing there heads off and cutting them down with dark energy shockwaves. It seemed they had the advantage, but Sin knew there was still that huge one coming their way.

' _This is actually kinda fun,'_ Robin thought as he impaled an Abomination with his Bo Staff. Just he was pulled his Bo Staff out if the creature. A monstrous roar came from the beach. _'What the fuck?'_

Out of the ocean came a huge monster about the size of a whale. The monster's head resembled a horned lizard, but it oddly looked human, too. It stalked out of the ocean on four Insect-like legs, which ended in three black claws. Its body was thin at the waist, but muscular everywhere else. Its skin was a sickly green with a hint of purple.

"What is that?" Raven asked.

"I don't think I wanna know, but whatever it is, it's going down!" Cyborg said, aiming his Sonic Cannon at the things head.

Cyborg fired his Sonic Cannon right at the monster's right eye. The blast didn't have any affect on it, except make it roar with fury. It came charging straight at the Titans.

"Uh-oh!" Cyborg said.

"Shit! Run!" Raven said.

Cyborg moved just in time to keep from getting stepped on. Raven levitated out of its away and moved Cyborg to safety as the monster tried to flatten him. Robin leaped at the monster and slashed with both spearheads of his Bo Staff. The monster swiped his front right claw at Robin, smacking him in mid-air away from it. Starfire caught Robin and carried him back to the monster. Starfire spun in the air, as Robin brought his right foot up and slammed it against the monster's jaw.

The monster gave barely any sign of being hurt. However, it was rather angry and thus it charged at Robin and Starfire. Starfire carried Robin away, just as it swiped at them. She let go of Robin, and he floated down gracefully to the ground. He reached into his utility belt and pulled out three Freezo Disks. He flung them at the monster's front feet and ice exploded over them. Robin smirked when he saw the monster couldn't break free.

Robin dashed at the monster, readying his Bo Staff to stab at its head. But when Robin approached it, the monster cocked its head and rose its back feet over its head. Robin heard its spine snapping as it twisted its lower spine completely around. It now stood on its frozen feet and used its back feet like hands.

"Ah, fucking hell," Robin cursed.

"Anyone thinking this piece of shit's a lot tougher than it looks?" Hot Spot asked.

"Considering how tough it looks, I'd say yeah," Beast Boy replied.

"Heh! You can put your money on Stefan to come up with something that annoying," Sin said.

"You call that 'annoying'?" Cyborg asked. _'Every time I start thinking he's somewhat normal, he throws one of those curve balls at me.'_

Sin merely snickered and eyed the monster psychotically. "You take care of the rest of the pests. I'll deal with daddy long legs," Sin replied.

"Not alone, you're not!" Robin said.

"Why, Robin, I didn't think you cared," Sin remarked.

"And you're not going without me, Robin," Raven added.

"Heh, Heh! What a strange trio we make? _AHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled. "ALL RIGHT! Let's show this creature the way to hell!"

Sin ran towards the monster with Robin behind him and Raven flying above him. Sin shifted his right arm into a dark snake and extended it at the creature. Robin shifted his hands into claws and slashed the creature viciously.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted and used her telekinesis to stir up a tsunami that she brought down on the creature.

The monster roared more in rage than pain. It lunged its up rose feet at them. Sin used his dark snake to bite its left leg and pull it away from hitting Raven. Robin clawed the creature before spinning around to deliver a vicious kick to its side. Robin kicked off the monster's side at the same to miss its claws. The monster roared more in frustration. It flung its feet forward to the ground, with enough force to pull its iced feet off the ground. It twisted its spine and slammed its front ice onto the rocky ground, freeing its feet from the ice. It snapped it spine back in place and slashed at Robin. Robin jumped out of the way, but it brought it's back left leg up and snatched Robin in mid jump.

"Ahhh!" Robin yelped. "Let go!"

Sin's whole right arm melted into darkness. The darkness split and five more snakes. They shot and sank there fangs into the claw the monster had Robin in. The monster roared in pain and rage, loosening its grip enough for Robin to break free. Robin floated to the ground and ran out of the monsters reach. The monster flung its leg around, trying to shake the shadow snakes biting into its flesh. Sin retracted his snakes and reformed his arm.

The monster glared at the grinning Nosferatu and charged after him. Sin smiled psychotically and leaped back from it. The monster followed Sin and slashed at him. Sin laughed wickedly as he dodged the huge claws. He leaped onto the outer wall of the Tower and ran up it. The monster stopped at the base of the tower and cocked its head up to the Nosferatu. Sin stopped and turned to smirk at the hideous creature. It jumped onto the tower and started climbing up after him.

"Figures…" Sin scoffed.

Sin was about to jump off when the monster opened its mouth and shot out a huge spiked tongue. Sin flattened himself against the tower, just barely dodging the vicious tongue. Sin got on all one knee and glared at the monster. It shot out it's spiked tongue again. Sin bent backwards, letting the tongue past up in front of him. He thrust his sword up and stabbed its tongue. He pushed his sword up all the way to the hilt through the tongue and twisted it, making the nightmarish creation bellow in pain.

"Sorry, no kiss on the first date!" Sin said.

Robin and Raven found themselves snickering at this. Well, Raven was snickering. Robin was outright laughing.

"Good one, Sin," Raven remarked.

Sin laughed and pushed off from the Tower. He flipped in the air, wrapping more of the monster's tongue on the blade, as he flipped. Sin landed agilely on the ground and pulled with all his undead might. He pulled the monster off the Tower, over him, and slammed it onto the rocky terrain.

"That's . . . I don't think I got words for that," Cyborg said.

"You got that right," Beast boy replied.

Sin freed his sword him the tongue and jumped up into the air and stayed there. His eyes glowed crimson, as did his sword, as he roared, _**"Crimson Laceration!"**_ Twenty blinding blades of dark red energy sliced into the monsters exposed back. The all the energy blades hit the creature, ripping the rough looking skin to shreds. Sin floated in the air and started laughing as he took pleasure from the creature's pitiful cries of pain.

"I will never get used to that," Speedy said.

Sin stopped laughing when he saw the monster got back up on its feet. It retracted its bloody tongue and hissed at Sin. With the massive wounds on its back, it acted like they were nothing.

"Aw, shit," Beast Boy uttered. "If Sin's Crimson Laceration didn't finish him, then what can we do?"

"We can still do plenty," Speedy replied, readying an arrow. Speedy fired an Incineration Arrow at the monster, setting its side on fire.

Starfire and Raven concentrated their energy into one attack and blasted it. Hot Spot blasted it with more fire as Cyborg's shoulders opened up and launched a barrage of missiles out it, exploding over its burning side. Robin cut loose with his Evil Eye, firing a blast of negative energy that could have razed an entire city block. Beast boy turned into a gorilla and helped Wildebeest keep up a huge rock and toss it at the relentless monster. Even with all the damage it was taking, it still stood on its feet, roaring and swiping its huge claws at them.

"Why won't you fucking die?!" Robin screamed, launching a barrage of explosive electric discs at the monster.

The disks proved as useless as all their other attacks. The monster continued to fight. If this kept up all them would get tired out before they could defeat this horrid creature. Raven shoot at its eyes with her telekinetic bolts, trying to blind the thing. Robin was getting angrier and angrier. He did not like losing and he did not like opponents that just didn't have the good sense to stay down. He concentrated all his anger into his Evil Eye, the negative energy danced out of around his wicked eye. The pain was becoming unbearable, but Robin didn't allow it to bother him.

He roared with inhuman volume, and cried, _**"Demon Eye!"**_

Robin fired the huge beam of negative energy, the beam was so big, it nearly threatened to consume all of Robin. The beam struck the monster and blew off its front left leg.

"Yahoo! Robin did it! He's beating it. Keep it up, Robin, teach that motherfucker not to mess with the Teen Titans!" Beat boy cheered.

"Not sure I can do that a second time," Robin replied, "But I'm pissed off enough to try it."

Robin tried to concentrate another attack like that, but it turned out his attack wore him out. His whole eye was bleeding badly; it took every ounce of will to just keep it opened.

"Robin!" Raven cried out and flew to him. "Your eye's bleeding."

"I know," Robin replied. "It feels like half my vision is obscured in blood."

"Robin, you've done enough, you're losing too much blood to fight anymore. Raven, look after him. We'll take care of the rest," Sin said.

Raven placed a glowing blue hand over Robin's eye. Immediately, the eye stopped bleeding and began to heal.

"That's the most I can do," she said. "You still lost a lot of blood. You'll need to feed soon."

"That'll be easy to do," Robin said with a lecherous smile. "But if we don't stop this monster, we're done for!"

"Guys! Look out!" Cyborg warned.

The monster was stalking towards them, roaring in fury. It shot out its spiked tongue at Robin. Raven pushed Robin out of the way in time, but the spiked tongue sliced open her arm.

"Raven!" Sin cried.

"Raven!" Robin echoed, his voice horrified and anguished.

The Nosferatu's eyes burned hellish red. His aura surrounded him as he glared at the monster with pure malice and hatred. Sin jabbed his sword into the ground and rose up both hands to the rampaging monster.

"This ends, now!" Sin roared.

The shadows began to swirl around the monster, trapping it from all sides. Sin pulled back one hand and rose up the other. A spike of dark energy erupted from under the monster, impaling it up into the air. The streams of shadows moved like snakes striking its prey. They burrowed themselves under the creature's skin, cutting down past the muscles, straight to its bones.

"It's over," Sin said with a dead tone.

He moved his arms out in front of him again in a cross pattern and flung him to his side. As he did this, the shadows in the monster ripped all the flesh off its bones.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Beast Boy said.

"Me too," Cyborg agreed.

"Me three," Speedy added.

"Four," Hot Spot joined in.

Wildebeest just covered his eyes.

If it wasn't the sight that made them sick, it was when all the blood and flesh splashed everywhere. The boys covered their mouths and ran to expel the contents in their stomachs. Robin glanced at Raven and saw she healed the gash in her arm already.

"Since the guys are off puking," Robin started to say, smirking at Raven, "how about you give me a little drink?"

"Since you put it that way, how can I resist!" Raven replied, pulling Robin to her.

Robin nuzzled his face in the corner of her neck and licked her tender skin before sinking his fangs into her. While Robin drank from Raven, Sin was staring at the skeleton before him. He didn't let the fact he was completely soaked in blood bother him. Normally, he'd enjoy it under other circumstances, but he didn't feel anything. He snapped his fingers and the spike of darkness vanish, sending the skeleton crashing and scattered into pieces. Starfire stood some distance from them. She couldn't it but her eyes wondered over to Robin and Raven. Strangely enough, she found herself observing Robin and Raven. The way Robin drank blood from Raven's throat wasn't by any means violent. No, he was so very gentle with her and her eyes were closed in what appeared to be bliss.

' _Is this what a vampire's bite can do?'_ Starfire wondered.

Despite herself, she felt a strange stirring inside her. She wondered what it would have been like if she'd stayed with Robin instead of turning to Speedy. Would it be her in Robin's arms, her eyes closed in sexual bliss as Robin drank her lifeblood? In any case, she'd probably never find out. For she made her choice and now she must be content with what she had...but she still wondered.

Sin appeared behind her and gentle touched her shoulders. "And what is the Princess thinking about, hmm?" Sin purred darkly.

Starfire had to admit that Sin still made her nervous but his touch didn't make her shiver like it would have only months before. She had also learned that there was no point in lying to someone who could read her soul, so she went with the truth.

"I was wondering what would have happened if I had not rejected Robin after his change," Starfire admitted.

Sin grinned devilishly as he ran his left hand through a lock of her thick red hair.

"Really? Hmm, I'm beginning to think you're not the 'innocent' as I thought you were. Heh, heh!" His words made Starfire blush. "The paths have been made, my dear. One can only regret now if the choices we made were the right ones..." Sin replied as he ran his finger along her neck.

Starfire sighed. "However, I shall not interfere. I love Speedy, and I see that Robin is truly happy with Raven. I can also see that with her he is free to express parts of himself that he may have felt that he could not express with me."

"True, they are happy...but I'm not so sure about you," Sin said.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Starfire asked nervously.

"You're still a virgin, that's what I mean," Sin snickered.

"How did you..." Sin placed a finger on her lips to quiet her.

"Your blood smells rich and sweet like a rare wine, almost as tempting as Raven's demonic blood. You never conceded your love with either Robin and Speedy...why is that?" Sin pondered with an amused look.

Starfire blushed. "As a Tamaranean, I am far stronger than a human. Were I to make love to either Robin when he was human or Speedy, I would lose control of myself in my passion and hurt them tremendously. That is why I never made love to either of them."

"Hmm, an iron virgin in every sense. Hah, hah, hah!" Sin laughed.

Starfire turned around to face the laughing vampire. She was so red with embarrassment, she didn't know if she should punch Sin for what he said, or agree with him.

"It is not funny," she finally said.

Sin took a step back and bowed his head and crossed his left arm over his chest. "My apologizes, Princess, but you can't blame me for finding it so amusing. Heh, heh! You've had two men in your life, and you haven't slept with either of them. What's a person to think about that?" Sin snickered.

"You speak of such sensitive subject, like they are to be laughed at!" Starfire replied with an edge of anger in her voice. "You mustn't make such important events in a person's life something to joke about!"

"Hey, there are few things in this world to find amusement in," Sin replied with a wicked grin. "Might as well take my pleasures where I can find 'em!"

"You're horrible!" Starfire said.

Sin smirked at her and step right up to her. He cupped her chin in his right hand and raised her hand up to his face. "Now you see why I'm called Sin," Sin purred.

The grinning Nosferatu pulled her close to him and laid a gentle kiss on her neck. Then he let go of her chin and walked away, as if what he done was trivial. Starfire was puzzled. Just what game was Sin playing, anyway? She hadn't noticed, but Robin had stopped drinking from Raven and they both were watching Starfire and Sin.

"What was that all about?" Robin asked softly, so only Raven could hear.

"I haven't the foggiest idea, but Sin's up to something," Raven replied.

"Oh, well," Robin murmured. Sin had been his maker and yet he remained as mysterious and unfathomable to the Boy Wonder as ever.

They walked over to the confused looking redhead. Starfire barely acknowledged they were there, but she looked at them and smiled slightly. Robin thought best not to ask her any question; he could sense she wasn't sure what was going on either. So they all walked back to the tower to make rest, then repairs to the Tower. After which, make plans on how to deal with their new enemy.

Out on the harbor, stood a man with a cold expression. The wind blew the tail end of his red trench coat around behind him. He wore a white silk shirt underneath the coat and a black leather pants. He had on black boots that only reached up to his calf. He brushed a hand through his short spiky brown hair. His crimson slit eyes glared with fury at the small island.

' _So, Sin, you and your little friends have beaten my Abominations,_ ' the man thought. _'While your strength is rather surprising, you're still nothing compared to me and I will make you realize that before I kill you.'_ Stefan chuckled, but even his laughter was cold as the expression he wore _. 'I will need to step things up a bit, but you will either come back to me...or fall. Once I have that half-demon slut. I shall rule both the night and the day itself!'_ Stefan laughed darkly as he vanished into the winds of the night.

A/N: I hope you this chapter was worth making you all wait for me to update this. Please review for me, it's does help get my ass moving to hurry up with updating my stories. And I ask you all to go and reread and review SHINAGAMI VIRUS's story. His new penname is mike13 and he renamed his story _The Houkounin Saga._ Look for it and give your support to him, please. Till next update…cya!


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans or Batman, only this story, Sin, and Stefan.

A/N: Thanks everyone for all the reviews. I'm glad you all liked it! I was having a hard time with that one, but thanks to Kokuryu's help, I managed to get it going. Ok, so it wasn't this 'Stuart' person that got SHINAGAMI VIRUS's story kicked off. Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I was pissed when that happened. I still think it was unfair for them to kick it off. Anyway, that's over and done with and I hope you all still help give your support to SHINAGAMI VIRUS.

To Kumi: I had to say thank you to you again, because your reviews have really made me feel like I'm accomplishing something.

To DarkSeductress: I'm looking forward to reading your vampire fanfic. Thanks for supporting SHINAGAMI VIRUS and for reviewing and being inspired by my story.

To DarkBird1345: Thanks for the sending me that e-mail to me, and I hope I don't disappoint you with my stories.

To Olivia: Thanks for your e-mail, too. I'm afraid you're just gonna have to wait and see how this story develops more. 'A magician never reveals his secrets'…but I do give hints. What's going to happen to Starfire's relationship with men will change her life…forever. *Dark chuckle* Anyway, thanks for what you said in your e-mail, and I hope you do write a vampire fanfic, if you're not sure. I'm always willing to lend a helping hand.

To Kate Van Helsing: I really don't care if you think the stuff in my chapters are wrong. If you don't like the contents in this story, then stop reading it. No one is forcing you to read this and, yes, there was a good reason why this story is rated R. I've earned enough critical praise from my reviewers to know I'm doing a great job. I will not allow you try and take that away from me. So, please, next time you review, let it be a constructive opinion, not a waste of both our time.

To silentXtearsXforgottenXhopes: I was very glad to hear from you. Yes, I love _Nightmare Before Christmas_ I've got both the movie and the soundtrack. Believe it or not, most of the stuff inspired in this story is from listening to the soundtrack while I'm typing up these chapters, even in _Teen Titans: Inferno._ Of course, if you've read the last chapter for that one, you'll see I really do love that movie. Don't feel bad about liking the movie, it's a great movie, don't let what others say about what you like affect your judgment, just enjoy what makes you happy…unless it involves something illegal, than I'm highly against it, but other than that keep enjoying it! If you go on my profile and read my favorite authors list, you'll find most of them are ones that wrote vampire novels. The best one to check out is Laurell K. Hamilton and Anna Rice. They write the best vampire fiction I've ever read. Hope you like them, too.

To everyone: Things are going to start heating up more than they already have! What does Stefan have in store for Raven and what was his relation with Sin? And why is Sin suddenly treating Starfire 'differently'…hehe, keep reading to find out what the hell is going on!

 **Black Blood**

When daylight came, all the remains of the Abominations were incinerated when the rays of the sun touched them. There weren't any evidences that monsters tried to kill the Titans, except the ruined door and the huge cracks Sin made when he slammed the huge Abomination onto the rocky ground. The Titans couldn't sleep, so they tried to keep themselves busy, trying not to remember the unnerving battle. The repairmen that came to fix the main entrance of Titan Tower were confused and frightened when they saw claw marks on the twisted remains of the huge doors. None of them asked the Titans what happened last night, which was just as well, because none of the Titans said a word to them other than the call to come fix the damages. They were all still shaking up by what they saw last night.

Sin didn't help much when he told them that those creatures were only the beginning of the horrors Stefan will use against them. He sat in Robin's room, putting on some sunscreen, he didn't want to leave them by themselves today, even in daylight, Stefan will try to something devious.

He sat in the chair by Robin's table, thinking about what he told the Titans and his strange new feelings for them. Sin told them the Council will help them deal with Stefan, but they had to hold out by themselves, until they decided to take action. He didn't tell them who his friend, Charion, was or what Charion advised to do with Raven. He didn't want the others to know they might have more Nosferatu coming after them. He was hoping Charion will keep them from finding out that the rumors were true. He wouldn't care if they did, because they would all meet a horrible end, if they so much as looked at Raven the wrong way…but he couldn't handle them and Stefan at the same time. Stefan was going to be a hand full by himself, the last thing he needed to make things more complicated were other power hungry vampires, coming to use his child.

Then there was Robin, his fledgling, he cared for him just as much as Raven, if not more. He was proud that Robin was adapting quickly to his new nature. With all that was going to happen that was one big stress relief, he was glad he didn't have to deal with his reluctances. Then there were the other Titans, sure he didn't like them as much as his dark ones, but they were growing on him, except for Speedy. If he had his way, he'd hang that close-minded bigot by the, you-know-whats', and torture the little prick. The other boys were all right by Sin's standards, he liked them, but he'd never tell them that. As for Starfire, well, he wasn't sure what he felt about her.

She was changing inside, even if she hasn't realized it yet, but there was something about last night that caused that change. He was curious with this sudden change in the Tamaranean. He was going to have fun seeing what this change will do to the princess. He couldn't help but chuckle at the plans he had for the redhead. Speaking of the redhead, he wondered where she had disappeared to. After their 'little' conversation, she went off by herself somewhere in the Tower for the rest of the night. He quickly checked himself to make sure he applied enough sunscreen, the last thing he felt like doing was smoking, literally. He vanished into the shadows and sensed out for Starfire's aura. He sensed she was up on the roof, and he sensed she wasn't alone. Only his eyes appeared in the shadows by the doorway.

He saw Starfire mediating with Raven, seemingly looking calm on the outside. On the inside though, she was a wreck. She was so confused with Sin and all that transpired last night. She thought mediating with Raven would help ease her mind, but it wasn't working. She kept remembering Robin drinking from Raven and Sin's strange behavior. Sin was about to show himself, but Starfire opened her eyes and glanced at Raven.

"Friend Raven, I must ask you a personal question," Starfire said.

Raven opened one eye and looked at her friend. "What is it?" she asked in an irritated tone. She still hated it when someone interrupted her mediation.

"Umm, what is it like to have Robin…bite you?" Starfire asked nervously.

Raven opened her other eye and stared at her redheaded friend, looking perplexed. Starfire had her face turned away from the empath. She didn't want her to see the embarrassed look on her face.

"Why do you want to know that?" Raven pondered.

"I-It was a silly question to ask of you. I shouldn't have said a word," Starfire said hastily.

She uncrossed her legs and flew into the doorway before Raven had a chance to reply. Raven stared long at the doorway; wondering way Starfire asked her that. She unconsciously started running her fingers through a lock of her hair, thinking deeply. For a second, she thought she saw eyes looking at her from the shadows, but they were gone when she blinked.

' _Sin, what are you up to?'_ Raven thought.

Sin followed Starfire through the darkness. She stopped on the 6th floor and sat in the stairs. She wrapped her arms around her knees and rested her heated face on her knees.

"What is the matter with me?" Starfire murmured to herself. "Why can't I forget about Robin and Raven's peaceful embrace?"

A dark chuckle rose up all around her. "Well, well, the princess is thinking naughty thoughts. Heh, heh!" Sin snickered.

Starfire's head bolted up with an anger burning in her green glowing eyes. "I am not thinking that way, you Iatneh'Namd!" Starfire growled.

Sin's laughter roared in the air. " _AHAHAHA!_ Don't lie to me, Princess. If you really weren't thinking of intimate thoughts, you wouldn't have gotten angry and started using names!" Sin retorted, rolling with a humorous tone.

Starfire hugged herself tightly. "Please, just leave me alone…" Starfire said quietly.

She felt a solid body lean against her back. Sin's long legs appeared next to either side of hers. His arms rose up around her and gently pulled her against his chest. Sin rubbed his left cheek in her thick red hair.

"You need to learn how to relax, Princess. You're way too stressed," Sin purred in a silky voice.

Starfire tried to break free from Sin's embrace, but his arms wouldn't budge. She started shivering from the cold feel of his body against hers. Then a wave of warmth began to emit from Sin. It wrapped around her like a blanket of silk, slowly making her stop struggling. She almost let herself fall into the velvety warmth, but she held enough of herself to be ready for whatever Sin was going to do.

"L-Let me go, Sin. I don't understand why you are acting this way, but it is making me uncomfortable," Starfire said.

"Don't tell me you don't find this in the least bit comforting?" Sin replied.

She didn't want to admit it, but it did feel nice. Her inner voice wasn't warning her to get away from him. She didn't sense any hostility coming from the Nosferatu. What was Sin doing to her, with him so close, she couldn't concentrate clearly, and it was very unnerving that he had this affect on her. He always gave her space and even after making some rude remarks to her, he always was respectful to her…in his own creepy way. She couldn't figure him out. At first, he was sarcastic, then menacing towards her. Now, he was acting in this strange manner. Why? None of it made any sense to her…unless he wanted something.

"S-Sin, whatever you are after, you won't get it with me? If you think I will allow you to do whatever you're trying to do with me, then you are sadly mistaken!" Starfire stated with a threatening tone.

"And what exactly do you think I'm trying to do?" Sin replied with a devilish grin.

"I do not wish to think about what you want, but I know I don't want any part of it," Starfire replied heatedly.

"Oh? Are you sure about that?" Sin leaned his face to her ear and nip at it. Starfire took a sharp breath and bit her lower lip, trying not to moan. Sin let go of her ear, and whispered. "You think I want something? Heh, what I want I can get from anyone."

"Then why are you-," Sin placed a finger on her lips.

"I told Raven this once, and I wish to tell you this, so listen carefully. I saw fear and doubt in your soul after you understood what Robin was. Only then, not before, when you understood what Robin had become, did your inner warning system tell you to stay away from him…and me." Sin said.

"Yes, I was and still am cautious about what you are," Starfire replied.

"Hehe, if you were still _cautious_ , Princess, then why are you so relaxed right now?" Sin remarked.

Starfire hadn't noticed it, but her body had started to relax against Sin's body. She found herself resting against his chest and holding his arms. She didn't like how easily Sin was able to make her free this way. She knew she had to leave before this got out of hand.

"If Speedy knew you were doing this, he'll…become violent again," Starfire said with what sounded like panic.

Sin raised an eyebrow at the tone she used. "Violent? I don't like how you said that, Princess," Sin said. "Why are you so worried that he'll become violent?"

"He…He becomes very infuriated with anything that has to do with you…or Robin," Starfire replied, closing her eyes.

"I know he hates my guts, but what does he have against Robin? I thought he valued him as a friend?" Sin said.

"He did-I mean-he does! Speedy just has this problem accepting vampires, Ur, I mean Nosferatu," Starfire fumbled.

Sin chuckled lightly, but there was no amusement in it. "It's all right to call me a vampire, Princess. I'm only picky about that with people I meet. And as for Speedy, tell me more about how he gets when he gets angry," Sin said.

"He starts yelling and raging about you when we have our privacy," Starfire said.

Sin looked at the side of her face concern fully. "He hasn't hit you, has he?" Sin asked.

"No, he has never laid a finger on me when he gets like that…but he came close a few times," Starfire replied sorrowfully.

Sin held her closer to him. "Don't ever let him use you to vent his frustration. No loved one should be used like that, if he ever hurts you, please, tell someone. I've seen too many women be beat down by men for stupid reasons. I…I don't want to see you become one of those women," Sin said.

"I do not believe that Speedy would consciously harm me," Starfire replied, but there was little conviction in those words.

"All the same, be careful," Sin said. In the back of his mind, he started working out how to make Speedy pay. It was partly his fault she's with Speedy; he thought Speedy would be a perfect replacement for her. Well, even he was known to makes mistakes, but he'll soon correct this one.

"Please, don't tell Robin about this. I don't want them to fight anymore, not since Speedy finally promised to handle his prejudice against you," Starfire asked.

Sin's first thought was to tell Robin right away, just so Robin would beat the shit out of him, but the tension he sensed in her changed his mind. "All right, I won't tell Robin," Sin replied. _'But I'll make sure Robin notices it.'_

"Thank you, Sin," Starfire said.

"You're welcome, Starfire," Sin replied.

Starfire started giggling. This caught Sin by surprise, but with years of practice, he kept it from showing on his face.

"What?" Sin asked.

"You didn't call me, Princess, this time. You actually said my name," Starfire replied happily.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever, I forgot myself for a moment. Don't expect me to slip again," Sin remarked curtly.

"Sure," Starfire said, giggling again.

Sin's right eyebrow started twitching in irritation, and then he got a mischievous look. "I'll give you a reason to giggle!" he said. He unwrapped his arms around her and started tickling her ribs.

Starfire burst out laughing, kicking and screaming, trying to protect her sensitive ribs from Sin's hands. Sin was merciless with his tickling; he didn't stop until she was begging him to stop. He tickled her some more, then he wrapped his arms around her again. After she calmed down and wiped the tears in her eyes, she realized Sin had her in his arms again.

"Umm, Sin, thank you for making me feel better, but could you please release me now?" Starfire asked. Before she could push away from him, she felt Sin moving her hair to the side, exposing her neck. "S-Sin?"

"Yes," Sin said, looking at the redheads' neck.

"Umm-m, I-I better get going. I believe Speedy will begin looking me soon," Starfire said hastily to him, but he didn't respond.

Sin played with a lock of her hair as he descended to her neck. Starfire shivered when she felt his warm breath on her neck. She was washed in a wave of exotic sensation. Her vision began to get foggy as the sensation intensified. Sin brushed his fangs lightly over her orange skin, inhaling her sweet scent. Oh, how it made her body feel so wonderful, but she was dealing with two things within. For one, her mind told her _'This is not right!'_ but her body was saying _'Go for it!'_ she couldn't let herself do this. Her heart and body only belonged to Speedy, didn't it? She pulled enough of herself to say, "This isn't r-right. Please, release me at once!"

Sin growled in his throat, the vibration from his mouth sent another wave of shivers down her body. Sin placed his face to her ear, and said, "Aren't you curious, Princess? Don't you want to know what pleasures a vampires' kiss can bring? All you have to do is say, yes, and I will gladly show you the blissful pleasure within our kiss."

Starfire tried to talk, but she was lost in the thrilling chill from Sin's words. All she had to do was say one word, just one word, and she could discover a world of pleasure that she has denied herself, because of her alien anatomy. She always had to hold back, for fear of harming her lover, but it was so hard every time. One time she thought she could control her strength when she was with Robin…but it didn't turn out very well. In the heat of the moment, she almost broke all his ribs, dislocated his left shoulder blade, and his right arm. She never forgave herself after that, she wept for hours, even after Robin told her he knew she didn't mean too. Luckily, Cyborg and Raven helped heal Robin and kept Beast boy and the others from finding out. If anyone asked why Robin looked so racked up they'd say he had another run in with Johnny Rancid.

Ever since then, she feared of hurting Robin, and now Speedy, if she indulged in any intimate embrace, but not right now, she didn't have that fear. Sin's body was strong, if not stronger, than anyone she has ever encountered. He was able to hold her down while she lost herself in the passion. She knew his body wasn't like a humans, it wouldn't get damaged as easily as a normal person. Was that why she was considering his proposal? She gripped his arms with most of her strength, but it didn't seem to bother him at all, he didn't groan in pain or wince when she squeezed him. This may just be her only chance to let go and lose herself in the peaceful passion she saw on Raven's face, all she had to do was say one word…

"Forget about your worries and let yourself go for once, you can do all that with just…one…simple…word," Sin whispered huskily.

Starfire couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to feel the pleasures without any reprimanding of harming someone physically. Sin could do all that with one bite…but then Speedy popped into her mind. She knew he loved her, he gave her his heart, and she couldn't throw all that he made her feel, just for one moment of pleasure.

"No!" Starfire shouted.

She elbowed Sin in the gut with all her strength. Sin was tossed back against the stairs. Starfire spun up in the air and punched Sin in the face, tossing his head back. It hurt like everything to hit his face; it was as hard as metal, but she figured it was worth the pain. She looked down and saw her knuckle was bleeding. She ignored the pain in her hand as she glared at the vampire.

"I will not be taken advantage of for your enjoyment. My heart belongs to Speedy, and I will not betray him, not for anything! Good day!" Starfire said and stormed off down the stairs.

Sin laid there on the staircase, laughing like a maniac. He sat up and leaned on the rail to watch the fuming redhead walk off to the Living Quarters. He stopped laughing long enough to pop his jaw back in place, then started chuckling to himself. He wiped some of the blood on his face from Starfire's hand off and licked it. The taste sent a tantalizing rush through him that made him squint his eyes and shake his head.

"Whoa! That girl drinks way too much mustard, but very delicious. Hah, hah! All things considered, I think that went rather well! _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin laughed, and vanished into the shadows.

For the rest of the day, Starfire stayed in her room, contemplating over Sin and what she'll do to him if he touched her again. While the others worked on a defensive plan for the Tower, if Stefan sends more Abominations or whatever he controlled there way again. Sin lounged about the Tower, keeping an eye on them all. He glared at Speedy whenever the archer came near him, making it clear to him to stay away from him. For his part, Speedy made the smart choice and left the crazy Nosferatu alone. He didn't know or want to know why the vampire was acting more hostile towards him. As the sun began to set, tension rose up in the anticipation of another attack on the Tower from Stefan. They watched all the scanners and monitors for anything that looked out of place. Sin was the only one looking relaxed as the night rode on. He knew Stefan wouldn't attack tonight, not so soon after losing so many of his pets. The bastard loved to overwhelm his enemies with shear number and brute force. It was highly doubtful Stefan would try anything tonight, but he had no doubts that Stefan would be up to something tonight, the question was what...

High in earth's orbit, a feminine figure soared down towards the blue planet. She flew down until she approached her destination, Jump City. She landed on top of a building near the harbor bay. She glared at the T-shaped tower on the small island, resting in the cities' harbor.

"What does my naïve sister see in this stupid planet? Well, whatever her reason is, she is soon gonna pay with her life for banishing me from _MY_ planet!" Blackfire scoffed.

For the last few years, she traveled from planet to planet, becoming stronger from what she learned on each planet she visited. She pushed herself with only one thought in mind, destroying her sister and all she care for. The embarrassment she had to endure from being banished from Tamaran was unbearable. All her plans to become ruler were now forever out of her reach. Forced to roam the universe as a…as a nomad! Her, the true rightful heir to the throne, turned into nothing more than an insignificant…commoner! She wouldn't stand for it; she will not be denied her birthright, even if she had to do whatever it took to reclaim the throne. If that meant conquering all of Tamaran and forcing her will on all the inhabitants, than so be it. But first, she had to make her sister pay for all the humiliation he had to bare. When she knew she was ready, she headed off to earth to find Starfire and make her wish she was never born!

"I'm gonna make you suffer, Starfire. First by killing all your friends, then make you watch as I rip your Robins' heart out right in front of you. After that, I'll slowly kill you and bring this pathetic town down in flames!" Blackfire vowed with unrelenting hatred.

"My, my, what a ruthless, cold hearted sister, you are?" She heard a cold and empty voice say behind her.

Blackfire swirled around to face the chilling voice. Stefan stepped out of the shadows with an evil smile plastered on his cold expression.

"Who the fuck are you?" Blackfire demanded with purple glowing eyes.

"Just someone who wants to see the residents on that island suffer as much as you do," Stefan replied, not phased by her weak show of intimidation.

"You didn't answer my question. Tell me who you are before I beat it out of you!" Blackfire threatened, charging a starbolt.

"You will find that is impossible, little girl. You haven't the slightest chance of beating me, no one does. But I will humor you this once. My name is Stefan Tartarus. The soon-to-be Emperor of all Undead and the Living," Stefan said, bowing at the waist and crossing his left arm over his chest.

' _Is this guy for real?'_ Blackfire thought. _'Talk about delusions of grandeur.'_

"There is no delusion in my vision, child," Stefan said coldly.

"How the hell did you know what I was just thinking?" Blackfire asked angrily.

"I read your thoughts. One of many talents I possess," Stefan replied.

"Ooh, impressive," Blackfire mocked.

Stefan narrowed his eyes. "Be careful how you address me, child. I don't tolerate that kind of behavior lightly," Stefan said with a snarl.

"You may be some kind of big scary tough guy here, but to me, you're nothing more . . . than a stepping stone on my path to revenge," Blackfire replied, turning deadly serious.

"Funny, I had the same thought in mind about you," Stefan sneered.

"I've had enough of you, you better leave now or else I'll make sure to can't leave at all!" Blackfire hissed.

Stefan chuckled cruelly. "Why don't you go first?"

"Don't mind if I do!" Blackfire said.

She came at him, charging starbolts in both hands. She thrust one fist straight at his sneering face. Unfortunately for her, by the time her fist would have made contact with his face, his face wasn't in the same space it had previously inhabited. Before she could make sense of what happened, a sharp pain jabbed at the back of her neck. Blackfire fell to the ground, she groaned as she tried to get break up, but suddenly a foot slammed her face into the concrete floor.

"Now, now, is that any way to behave toward one's superiors?" Stefan's cruel, arrogant voice asked.

"B-Bastard!" Blackfire cursed.

"I could kill you right now, you know," Stefan continued. "But since I happen to like that ruthless, hate-filled spirit of yours, I offer you a choice: Die by my hand or become a vampire and fight alongside me."

"What?" Blackfire fumbled. "What are you talking about?"

"You don't see it, but I do..." Stefan purred evilly. In his crimson eyes, he saw a dark flame burning like a candle in her center of her being; it burned with the essence of a child of darkness, the sign that revealed the makings of a Nosferatu. "You are one of the chosen few, my dear. You have the potential to pass your weak mortality and become a Midian."

"I don't care what you can offer me. I'm not interested!" Blackfire growled, blasting the floor with her eyebeams. She blasted through the floor and flew down out from under Stefan's foot, then starbolts shot out from under Stefan.

"Persistent, Hehe! She will be a useful tool against Sin," Stefan mused to himself, as he easily dodged all the starbolts.

"Stay still, you bastard!" Blackfire yelled. She crashed up from under the floor, right behind Stefan, blasting his exposed back with her eyebeams. "Gotcha!"

Stefan turned around, readjusting his coat, like nothing happened. "Really?" Stefan asked. "I barely felt that. At worst, you might have given me a tan."

"Grr! You'll be begging for mercy after I'm done with you. I swear it!" Blackfire replied angrily.

"Funny, that's what I was thinking about doing to you. We seem to have a lot in common," Stefan answered coolly.

Blackfire roared with fury and fired another wave of starbolts at him. A ghostly wall rose up in front of Stefan, blocking all her attacks. She stopped in mid throw as she stared in horror at the wall. All over the wall, it had ghastly faces, howling in what sounded like pain.

"What is that?" Blackfire asked fearfully.

"What? Oh, this?" Stefan pointed at the wall. "Just a few souls I captured a long time ago. They weren't of any use to me while alive, but I found a use for them in death," Stefan replied with a bored casual tone.

Blackfire was honestly horrified by this. Sure, she was technically evil, as others would consider her. But Stefan was even worse! If this wall of souls was of any indication, he had no respect for life at all, not to mention no respect for the dead.

"That's monstrous!" Blackfire cried.

"So what? They were useless and wasting precious space for my ideal kingdom. At least this way, they have some use. Hah, hah!" Stefan laughed cruelly.

Blackfire was beginning to feel afraid. Sure, she's seen many things that were cruel and heartless, but what Stefan did to those souls was beyond any evil. If he could do this so easily to people, what's to stop him from doing worse to her? Whatever this evil abomination was, he clearly wasn't human, for humans didn't have the spine or malice to do something that cruel.

"Just what are you?" Blackfire asked hollowly.

"I am a Nosferatu, what the humans call a vampire. I am nothing you've ever faced before, little girl. It's pointless fighting me, you'll never win," Stefan said with an air of pride and surety.

Vampire? Blackfire has heard of them before. They used to have vampires on Tamaran, but for some strange reason, just as the vampires were on the verge of ruling the planet, they all mysteriously disappeared? To this day no one on Tamaran knew what happened to the fiends that almost conquered them all. She thought they were all extinct, but it would appear there were some here on earth.

"Bloodsucking freak," Blackfire snarled before flying at him, this time aiming a fast kick for his skull.

Stefan smirked and caught her foot. "Like I said...pointless!" He tightened his hold on her foot and swung her around like a rag doll. He slammed her body on the concrete, sending her crashing down three floors.

Blackfire laid unconscious in the rumble. Stefan floated down the hole and landed next to her. He picked her up with one hand by her left shoulder and smirked cruelly at her.

"You will appreciate me doing this later," Stefan said to the unconscious brunette.

He unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it back enough to reveal a jagged scar, like someone used a knife and didn't have a steady hand when they cut him. He took out a knife from his coat and stabbed it into the scar, cutting into his heart. He hissed slightly from the pain, but quickly ignored it. He pulled out the knife and used it to cut off the front of Blackfire's top, exposing her chest. With a cruel look on his face, he stabbed the knife in her chest, digging it in till the blade touched her heart. Blackfire woke up screaming in agony, gripping Stefan's arm. He pulled it up enough to keep from cutting more of the heart and twisted it around in her chest. She screamed on endlessly. Stefan took great pleasure in her screams as he continued with his cutting. Once he was done, she had a jagged line, just like his. If she was going to be his child, then it was only right she should bare the same scar. He pulled out the knife and pressed her chest against his, letting the blood pour into each other's heart.

"What . . . are you d-doing?" Blackfire choked.

"I'm turning you into what you really are on the inside...a monster," Stefan replied with a husky voice, stoking her hair idly.

"No...I...I d-don't want this!" Blackfire said weakly, tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"You may not want this now, but you'll be grateful to me," Stefan replied. "In time. Come now, my dear. We must prepare for your awakening as a Nosferatu."

Stefan parted her from him. He watched as she fainted from the burning pain spreading throughout her. He scooped her legs in his left arm. He flew up out of the ruined building onto the crumbling roof. He took one last look at Titans Tower, then he and Blackfire vanished into a cloud of red mist. The mist traveled out of the city, gliding like a crimson veil in the night sky. It flew over the countryside. Out in the countryside, hidden deep in the woods, a graveyard resided in the center of the darker part of the woods, standing in the middle of the graveyard stood an old plantation. The red mist dove down into the chimney of the plantation and zoomed down and out the fireplace, into a huge room. The mist swirled around and Stefan stepped out of it with Blackfire still in his arms. He set Blackfire down on a leather couch by the fireplace. He took off his trench coat and placed it over her. Even if he was heartless, it didn't mean he wasn't without courtesy.

She was now his child; until she awoke he could at the very least try to act like a proper Sire. If she did as she was told, he would reward her...but if she doesn't. It would be a waste to kill her, she was a strong fighter, but if she didn't prove to be of any use to him, then he'll have to kill her and find another use of her remains. He didn't want to risk the chance that she will rebel against him. Nor waste any time figuring out a useful purpose with her remains. It would only slow down his progress, and he can't tolerate anything that holds him from completing his master plan, not when he was so close to accomplishing his ultimate goal, to be emperor of all dead and living. So the only way to ensure that she wouldn't rebel against him was to remove her free will completely. He placed his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes. He concentrated on pushing his way through the chaos in both her conscious and subconscious. He looked for the part of her mind, until he found what he was looking for. He eradicated most of her memories of her old life, leaving only her rage, and her cruelty, the traits he admired the most. He looked into his own mind and pushed a piece of his mind into hers.

' _Yes, she'll be a perfect child now,'_ he thought.

With the piece of his mind her, she would now and forever obey any order, do whatever he willed and never question him. What more can a Sire want in his fledging? He stood up from her motionless body. He proceeded to his chair on the other side of the fireplace. He settled in it and crossed his left leg over his right knee. He rested his elbows on the armrest and intertwined his fingers together, watching his child sleep. She was rather attractive, Stefan mused, but she didn't interest him in that way. Few people did. Once he ruled over the humans, then he'll worry about such things. But right now, he had to get his hands on the half-demon, if any of his plans were to succeed. He untwined his fingers; he rested his left hand on the armrest, but left his other still up. He snapped his fingers and a door quickly opened up. A boy, looking around eighteen, walked into the room. He had long black that reach down just a bit past his shoulder line. He face was charming and soft…but it held a hint of something dangerous underneath it. His pale green eyes gleamed in the darkness as he approached Stefan. He was dressed all in black, a black dress shirt, black pants, and black shoes. It was apparent he liked a lot of black, because even the necklace with the spider over the skull was black.

"Yes, master?" he asked, bowing his head.

"I have a very important mission for you, Eric. It requires your unique abilities," Stefan said, not taking his eyes off Blackfire.

Eric Forrester was one of Stefan's most loyal and 'trusted' servants. He was also his most dangerous; he was an Incubus, a creature that lived off others by devouring their souls, not as dangerous as a Nosferatu, but still one to be weary of. One of his traits was the ability to seduce any mortal into thinking they loved him. He would play with their emotions, until they let their guard down, then he would drain every part of their being. He also was in charged of most of Stefan's affairs when he rested, but mostly to deal with…certain obstacles.

"Who is my target, master?" Eric asked stoically.

"Your target is a half-demon named Raven," Stefan replied.

"How do you wish for her to be dealt with?" Eric asked with a bit of a sinister smile creeping over his blank expression.

"Do what you do best," Stefan replied. "Charm her. Seduce her. Make her love you. Make her think you love her back. Then bring her to me."

Eric bowed his head and turned to leave, but he caught sight of Blackfire sleeping on the couch. He glanced at his master, taking note of the amused look in his eyes, and then he looked back at the brunette. If his master was anyone else, he might have asked who she was. She was attractive and she might be a fun one to play with, but Eric knew better than to ask Stefan about anything. For the answer his master gave him was always disturbing. The less he knew about what the girls' fate the better. He was just now getting over the nightmares. The last time he asked Stefan the fate of someone, not only did he tell him, but he showed him. Eric had learned during his time of servitude to Stefan that his master was, to use the cruder vernacular of this modern age, a sick fuck. It was best to let his master do what he pleased, if he wanted to keep his own sanity.

Eric left the room and proceeded to the garage. It was installed a while back so the servants had a place to park their vehicles. Eric walked over to his priced possession, a black motorcycle with sliver lining on the edges. On the sides was a symbol of a purple eye. He never understood why he put them on, it just something he found appealing. H was fascinated with the strange eye. To him the eye represented great power, the kind of power to remove all obstacles, the kind of power he craved for, to be an equal among his masters' kind. One day, he would discover that power, but for now, he had to follow orders. He mounted the motorcycle and kick started the engine, it roared to life, as if it was a beast. He zoomed out of the garage and rode down the only road leading out of the graveyard, to the beaten trail in the woods, all the way to the state highway, leading to Jump City.

' _This should be interesting, going after a half-demon. Hehe, watch out, Raven, you are about to become my love slave!'_ Eric thought, as he speeded towards Jump City.

The Titans got very little sleep last night. They stayed up most of the night waiting for another attack, but nothing thankfully came. Sin told them to all get some rest, if Stefan wasn't going to do anything now, then they should get some rest while they could. He left after sun set to check on Charion. Robin was already sleeping in his room when the sun came up. The boys made sure everything in the city was all right before they went to bed. The only ones still up were Raven and Starfire. Raven was sitting at the kitchen, drinking her tea. She wasn't tired yet, and she needed some time to herself. She still needed some time by herself, so she could think clearly and figure everything out. She was pondering about the question Starfire asked her when the redhead entered the kitchen. Starfire didn't seem to see Raven at the table; she went straight to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of mustard. She twisted the top off and drank most of the yellowish substance in big gulps. Raven only widened eyes as her friend drank all that mustard. Something must be bothering her to make her drink all that mustard at once?

"Uh? Is something wrong, Star?" Raven asked in a calm tone.

Starfire stopped drinking the mustard and looked at her. "Oh…Hello, Raven. I-I didn't think you were still up," Starfire said.

"I'm not tired yet. What's wrong, Star? I've never seen you chuck down that much mustard before," Raven said.

Starfire fidgeted a little, looking away from her. "There is nothing the matter with me, friend Raven. I was merely thirsty…" Starfire said, trying to sound innocent.

"You're a bad liar, Starfire. Now, out with it. What's gotten into you lately?" Raven asked.

Starfire sighed and joined Raven at the table, still holding her bottle of mustard. "I am not sure. I am a bit confused right now about a great many things," Starfire replied tiredly.

"You mean you're confused with Sin, don't you?" Raven inquired.

"…Yes," Starfire confessed. "He is a complete enigma to me."

"That sounds like him alright. He's still a mystery to all of us, don't feel like you're the only one," Raven replied.

"It is not so much as understanding him, it's what he is doing," Starfire said, playing with the mustard bottle.

Raven raised an eyebrow. "What _is_ he doing?" she asked.

Starfire didn't look at her dark friends face. She continued to pretend the bottle in her hands was a fascinating object.

"Starfire, what is he doing?" Raven asked again with a bit more forceful tone.

"He offered to drink my blood, so I could discover the pleasures you experience when Robin drinks from you," Starfire said, making sure not to meet Raven's eyes.

"What? Sin offered that to you! Why?" Raven asked in a curious tone.

Starfire was surprised to hear Raven sound curious. She thought Raven would be angry with her, because Sin offered to drink her blood. She looked up at Raven's face, expecting to see a stern emotionless look, but instead, she saw a soft friendly face. This was something Starfire wasn't familiar with her dark friend. Sure, she tried everything to make Raven feel happy and enjoy life, but seeing it now on her face was quite out of place. It was pleasant and understanding, the face someone makes when they only wear to make someone feel comfortable. Was this all because of Sin? Ever since he came into their lives, he has had an effect on all of them. Yes, Robin was now a vampire, but even if he wasn't human anymore, he looked happier than she has ever seen him. He had brought out Raven's emotional side, the side they've all worked so hard to help Raven express. How can Speedy hate him so much, couldn't he see what Sin was really doing? He wasn't corrupting the Titans, he was helping them. Just seeing Raven smiling face proved all this to that Sin, with all his weird laughing, and his dark nature, he wasn't the evil monster Speedy keeps saying he is. Starfire was so deep in thought; she didn't feel Raven knocking lightly on her forehead.

"Anybody home?" Raven said.

"Uh? S-Sorry, I lost myself in my trail of thought," Starfire replied, shaking her head slightly.

"That's fine. Now, what's going on between you and Sin?" Raven asked.

"I'm not sure. He told me that when I first realized that Robin became a vampire. This inner sense he told me I had, made me afraid of him and Robin. But since the fight with the Abominations, when I saw Robin bite you. I was…" Starfire looked away. How could she tell Raven she was envies of what she and Robin had? That she too wished to know the pleasure they shared together.

The corner of Raven's mouth curled up in a knowing smile. "It's all right to be curious, Starfire. It's okay to ask me," Raven said reassuringly.

"But it's so personal! Aren't you upset with me with for me wanting to know?" Starfire asked worriedly.

Raven widened her smile and shook her head. "Not at all." Raven replied.

"Well, in that case. How does it feel when Robin bite's you? Does it hurt at first, then feel wonderful? Or does it feel good the moment he sinks his fangs into? Do you feel dizzy during it or after you lose blood? Does it make your whole body feel joyous?" Starfire asked all in one breath. She stopped talking only long enough to inhale. She was about to ask more questions, but Raven placed her hand over her mouth.

"Whoa, whoa! Slow down some, Starfire. Give me a chance to answer," Raven said, suppressing a chuckle. "It's hard to explain, but when Robin bites me, it's like all my worries are washed away. I'm left feeling like my body is swimming in warm water, like my whole body is submerged in a hot spring. I feel a sense of tranquility that I can't get from the deepest of mediation." She touched the spot Robin bit her tenderly with her eyes half closed.

"It must be truly wonderful, if the memory of it makes you look so happy?" Starfire surmised.

"It does," Raven confessed with a little softness in her words.

"Raven, I have another question for you…" Starfire said.

"What?" Raven asked.

"What is Sin really like? I mean, when he is only with you and Robin," Starfire pondered.

"He's still the same as he usually is, but he acts more kindly when we're alone with him. He treats me like the daughter he lost," Raven replied.

"He lost a daughter?!" Starfire said sadly. "It must have been terrible for him, what happened to her?"

Raven told Starfire all about Cynthia, the villagers, and what Sin did after they killed her. When Raven was done, Starfire was silently crying. She wiped was tears away and sniffed a little.

"How could they do that to her, she wasn't guilty of anything?" Starfire said.

"That was back in a time when humans were very scared of things they considered evil, Star. They believed it was in their rights to kill someone they believe to be…tainted," Raven said that last word with bitterness.

"She hadn't done anything wrong, except fall in love with her true love!" Starfire exclaimed.

"I know, but they reacted to their fear rather than believe she was innocent," Raven replied.

"I see now why he makes fun of many things. He has so much sadness inside him," Starfire said sorrowfully.

"Yeah…" Raven said. "He's lived a long time; he's had to deal with more pain than anyone can understand."

"At first, I thought Sin was just a wicked creature, but these last two days, I have learned he isn't the terror, Speedy keeps saying he is. How can he hate something that he doesn't understand? He's acting like those villagers! He…He…" Starfire halted. The hard truth just hit her right then.

It explained everything. Why Speedy hated Sin, it explained why he wanted to get Sin away from them for good. He was scared of Sin. He feared what Sin was and what he could do. That's why he never tried to get along with him and why he got so angry. He used his anger to hide his fear, and she was acting the same as those villagers as Speedy. She was so afraid that she didn't bother to try to understand what Robin was going through, she just did what they did, she cowered. Starfire hugged herself and began crying again.

"Star, why are you crying?" Raven asked concern fully.

"I…I have been acting the same as those that bought him so much sorrow!" Starfire kept on crying.

"It's not your fault, you didn't know. Maybe, at first, when you first met him, he treated like you like one of them, but not anymore," Raven said.

"How can you be sure?" Starfire asked tearfully.

"Because he got to know that you aren't really like those villagers. Just like you how you know he isn't a threat to us," Raven said sagely.

"I don't blame him for treating me like one of them. I've done nothing to make him think I'm not," Starfire replied.

"I disagree," Raven said.

"Huh?" Starfire uttered, looking at the Raven's soft expression.

"If Sin thought so low of you, then why is he acting so different all of a sudden with you?" Raven replied, looking questionable at the redhead.

"I don't know? It all started when I saw Robin bite you, and I wondered what it would be like if I was still with Robin," Starfire answered blankly.

"You didn't feel any disgust or fear when you saw Robin drink my blood?" Raven asked.

"None. To be truthful, I felt envies…" Starfire replied shamefully.

"Envies? Of what?" Raven said, not believing what she heard.

"Of what I might have had if I stayed with Robin and not run off on him like I did that terrible night," Starfire said.

"We can't change the past, Star," Raven said softly. She smiled. "However, we can learn from it and use it to create a better future."

"I'm not sure how, but I will try," Starfire replied, starting to feel better.

"How about we go to the mall?" Raven suggested. "You and me, try out some clothes, that sort of thing?"

"That would be wonderful! I believe it is open now. We should hurry!" Starfire said happily, quickly forgetting why she was sad.

' _Same old Starfire,'_ Raven thought.

As soon as they arrived to the mall, Raven wished she never suggested it. The first thing Starfire did was dragged her into a cloth store and tried to make her wear different kinds of out-fits. She tried to make Raven try on something pink, but the moment she handed it to her in the dress room, Raven threw it out. After an hour, Starfire gave up trying to lighten her dark friends' appearance and looked for clothes she knew she'd like. By the time they were done clothes shopping; both girls walked out of the store with four bags each. They started to feel hungry after an hour of walking around the other stores. So they went to the food court. Starfire offered to go get the food while Raven went to find a sit for them. She found an empty spot near the back and put her bags down next to her seat. As she sat quietly at the table, a pair of pale green eyes was watching her from the other side of the food court.

' _That's got to be her. I feel a dark power emitting from her,'_ Eric thought.

He didn't expect to find her so soon. He came to the mall only to gather information from anyone that might know something about his target. He only learned how many guys would like to go out with her and other inappropriate comments. He managed to drag out enough information to know what she looked like and where she hung out the most. He was about to check out some dark store he heard she liked to go to when he spotted her walking with a redhead. He followed her to the food court, where he examined her and figure out the best way to approach her without cause of suspicion. He figured out what type of girl she was by merely studying the way she acted. He always had a talent to figure out what type a person was by just looking at them. He surmised she was what the humans called a Goth, uncaring and liked to be alone. He figured out all her other traits in less than a minute and already worked out how to win her trust. He had to move fast before that other she was with got back. He stealthily made his way to her, keeping his eyes on her like a predator getting ready to pounce on its prey. As he came nearer, he took a minute to admire her unique dark beauty. She was exquisite and very lovely, it would be a shame to have to bring her to Stefan, knowing what will happen to her, but an order was an order, and he knew better than to fail Stefan. The repercussions for failing would be unthinkable.

Raven seat idly at the table. _'What's taking Starfire so long? I'm starving!_ ' she thought.

"Excuse me? But can you help me?"

Raven jerked in surprised. She looked next to her with a look ready to kill, but then angry look slowly faded away. She forgot why she was angry when she made eye contacted with the one who spoke to her.

"Umm-m, y-yes?" Raven replied weakly.

"I'm new to this town, and I'm having trouble finding my way around. I was wondering if you could help me out," Eric said with a pleasant expression.

Raven tried to ask him where he was from, but she couldn't take her mind of his attractive eyes. The deeper she looked into those eyes, the more she lost contact with everything around her. Nothing else matter to her, except gazing into his beautiful eyes. The eyes were captivation, perfectly shaped and beautiful…too beautiful. Something wasn't right here, but when she tried to figure it out, a cloud of green fog filled her mind, leaving only those hypnotizing green eyes. She fought to regain control of her mind, but she was slowly succumbing to the strange power in those eyes. Eric smirked as he quickly made her fall for his charms.

' _Heh, this was easier than I thought it was gonna be,'_ Eric thought. _'And I thought she was going to be a challenge. Oh, well, makes this a whole lot easier for me.'_

He placed his hand under her chin and rose it up, so he could see all of her face. He leaned down an inch from her face, almost close enough to kiss. He stared into her eyes as he placed her in a trance.

"Stand up," he commanded in a seductive voice.

She struggled not to listen to the enthralling voice. She knew it was dangerous to listen to this voice, but her body wouldn't listen to her. She slowly got out of her seat with him as he straightened up. She stood there trying to look away from his eyes. He held her face firmly as he poured more of his hypnotic powers into his eyes. Raven's eyes glazed over in a deep trance, she looked at him with a look of pure devotion.

"You will love only me now, my little birdie. I am your whole world," Eric said in a commanding tone.

"Whole…world," Raven repeated lovingly.

"You cannot live without my love. I am the only one you have giving your heart too," Eric said.

Her eyes began to look lost; she was shaking her head, as if she wasn't sure what to say.

"Didn't you hear me? I said you cannot live without me!" Eric said with a forceful tone.

"N-No…" Raven said.

Eric stared at her in disbelief. She was still fighting him, even though he had her with his seductive powers. He looked into her eyes and saw something there hidden beneath the surface of her mind. He tried to force his way into her mind, but found an iron-will barrier blocking him from the center of her mind. With a growl he kissed her, his powers grew whenever he touched someone. The moment his lips touched hers, Raven was bombarded by a more of his power. He slammed into her barrier with the force of a tornado, trying to rip away all her defensives.

Raven weakly tried to push him off him, keep him from invading her mind, but he was too powerful. Her defensives began to crack as he pushed his will into hers. She began to cry silently. Eric smiled in the kiss, feeling her slowly losing to him. This was the moment he loved the most, when his victim realized there was no hope and they gave into him. It was his high, his deepest pleasure, the feel of dominating someone was better than any other sensation in this world. He relished in it for as long as it would last before going into her mind.

' _Now, let's see what is keeping her from falling for my powers?'_ Eric thought.

When he glanced into her mind, the first thing he saw was an eye, a strange purple eye burning with fury.

' _That eye! It's…it's what I've been looking for all these years!'_ He looked deeper into her mind, trying to find out what she knew about the eye.

He was curious with what this half-demon might know about it. Raven was hiding behind it, using it as her last defensive. He chuckled in her mind. There was nothing that could protect her from him, not even that eye. When he tried to pass the eye, it moved with him, blocking him from Raven.

' _What the?'_ He tried to move again, but wherever he moved the eye kept moving with him.

He held Raven tighter, trying to build up more power. He pressed his will against the eye. It only blinked and began to glow. As it glowed, he saw a face in the darkness. He tried to make it out but he couldn't quite see it clearly with the eerie light. As the light grew in Raven's mind, Eric heard her keep say, _'Robin, help me, please!'_

' _Robin? Whoever he is, he can't help you now! You love me; you can't do anything but love me!'_ Eric sneered in her mind.

' _You're wrong! I love Robin, only Robin!'_ Raven said determinedly.

The more she focused on Robin's Evil Eye, the more she was regaining control of herself. Her eyes glowed white, and all her defensives were pushing Eric out of her mind. She concentrated all her powers on the eye and it shined brighter. Eric saw Robin standing in her mind with a wicked smile.

This was the one preventing him from that stood in his way. He had the eye; he was the one she loved, the one who was keeping Raven from swooning from his seductive powers. He held the power he craved for in that menacing eye! Raven used the eye in her mind as a focus point for her powers. The glyphs on her belt blazed with powers as her aura built up around her.

Raven blasted Eric off her with a surge of her dark powers. He crashed into the food court tables. He shook his head and tried to untangle himself, but the tables and chairs turned black. They twisted around him, pinning him to the floor. He tried to break free, but he couldn't get his arms free from the metal. Raven levitated over him and glared at him with pure anger.

"What did you think you were doing?" she asked angrily.

"I don't have to tell you anything," Eric replied with a smirk.

"If you want to leave this mall in one piece you're gonna fucking tell me!" Raven said in a deadly tone.

"Ooh! I'm so scared!" Eric taunted. He wiggled his left hand around and a dagger appeared out of his sleeve. He touched the metal over him with the tip of the blade, a pale green light sparked as it touched the black energy on the tables and chairs.

"You've got five sec—Ahh!" Raven shouted when a blinding green light flashed in her face.

"We'll meet again, my little birdie! Be sure of that, but first I'm gonna deal with your precious Robin, then you're all mine!" Eric's voice boomed around her.

When the green light faded, the tables and chairs Raven used to hold him down were melted, leaving a gap big enough for someone to slip through.

"Damn it! He got away!" Raven yelled. Her belt blazed with keeping her powers under control.

Starfire suddenly flew up next to Raven. "Raven! What has happened, are you all right?"

"Some guy trying to make me think I love him," Raven replied in her monotone voice. She didn't want Starfire to see how shaken up she was. This guy comes along and tried to take her away from Robin, and he almost succeeded. How could she be so easily manipulated like that? "We need to get back to the tower." Raven picked up her bags and walked off without another word.

Starfire quickly followed her out of the mall and back to the Tower. Once there, Raven went straight to her bathroom, where she took out some mouth wash and used the whole bottle to clean her mouth. Then she went to straight to Robin's room. She got into bed and curled up against the slumbering Boy Wonder; even if he doesn't move a muscle while he slept, she just needed to be near him. She needed to be next to him to feel safe again. Then the reality of what almost happened occurred to her. The thought of what might have happened to her, if that guy did succeed, it made her feel cold inside. The thoughts of what might have been done to her were overbearing. She began to cry and soon she cried herself to sleep. Starfire went to wake up the others and inform them of what accord at the mall.

"Some guy tried to force Raven fall in love with him? Dude, that's creepy!" Beast Boy said.

"Indeed, I'm not sure what he did to her. By the time I arrived, he was gone, but I could tell Raven was very upset," Starfire replied, looking concerned for Raven.

"Do ya blame her!? I'd be more than upset if someone tried to make me think I was in love with someone I wasn't," Cyborg said. "I'd have beaten the shit out of them!"

"We should talk to Raven; she is the only one that knows what this guy looks like. We got to get him before he tries something else to get her," Speedy said.

"Now is not a good time, Speedy. Raven…needs some time to herself," Starfire said.

"We can't wait around while someone obsessed stalker is trying to get his slimy hands on Raven!" Speedy said.

"True, he must be stopped, but we must give her a little time to rest. She was the one, after all, who he tried to seduce. Beast Boy, you agree on me how this will effect Raven," Starfire replied calmly.

"Yeah…" Beast boy agreed, remembering the whole Malchior insistent. "We'll wait till tonight before we do anything."

They all agreed to that and went about the Tower, trying to pretend it was just another typical day in Titans Tower.

At the Harbor, stood Eric, he had followed Raven and Starfire to the Tower. There were no words to describe how pissed off he was. He almost had Raven in his grasp and she slipped away from him, all because of Robin. No, not because of her lover, but because of that eye! It was his eye that kept her from being seduced by his power. He had to get rid of Robin if he had any chances of completing his mission. First, he needed to find a way to get Robin to face him alone. That would be tricky, knowing that the other Titans will surely try to help him out.

' _I believe I can help you with that,'_ a dark voice spoke in his head.

Eric moved his hand and his dagger slipped into his hand. He scanned everything around him. He sent a mind probe out around him, but he sensed no one.

"Where are you?" Eric demanded.

' _I'm nowhere, but I'm every where. I'm nothing, but I'm everything. I'm the shadow that follows behind you. I'm the darkness that looks back at you when you stare too long into the abyss. Hehehehehe!'_ the voice replied. _'Or you could just be going mad, and I'm nothing more than an imagery voice talking in your head. AHAHAHAHA!'_

"Whoever or whatever the fuck you are, you better show yourself!" Eric growled.

' _I think not,'_ the voice replied.

"Why, you fucking scared to face me?" Eric jeered.

' _Hehe, in you're dreams, soul stealer. You should accept any help you can get at this time,'_ the voice said. _'Especially, if you want to get that Goth girl and her undead lover.'_

"And why should I do what you say? What's in this for you?" Eric asked, glaring at everything around him.

' _Nothing but your success I assure you! You want to have the eye, right? I'm offering to give you both the girl and the eye! Or are you too scared to take the eye? Is that it? Huh, is Robin too intimating to fight for it, because he has the eye?'_ The voice taunted.

"I'm not scared of any freaky eyed teen! He will die tonight I promise you that, and then I'll fuck that fucking whore and drain her till almost nothings left of her. Then my master can do whatever pleases him with her!" Eric shouted, burning with rage. No one called him a coward no one, not even a weird voice. "You tell me the time and the place, and I'll be there!"

' _Good…then it's agreed. Go to the parking lot on Shady Creek Ave at the stroke of midnight. Robin will be there alone. Don't be late!'_ the voice said.

"You can count on that!" Eric said. He waited for a minute to see if the voice had more to say, but he only was greeted with silence. He looked at the Tower with confidents and an evil smile. "You're a dead duck, Robin!" then he left to prepare for tonight.

A pair of red eyes watched Eric go; a Cheshire smile broke of the shadows in an alleyway. "Be careful who you get help from, poor fool. You may never know what someone has in store for you!" Sin snickered. His eyes blinked out of existence and his smile faded back into the darkness.

It was a good thing he followed Raven and Starfire to the mall. He had returned from England just in time to hear Raven suggest they go to the mall. Sin thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on them. So he hid in the shadows wherever they went…except when they were trying on clothes. He had the decency to let them have some privacy when they went into the dress rooms. As they walked around the mall, Sin got bored with watching them looking at things they probably wouldn't buy. He took a moment to scare some blondes hanging around a Starbucks by running a fingernail on the back of their necks. The two of them jumped right out of their seats.

Sin chuckled wickedly upon seeing the two girls jump out of their seats. _'Damn, it's fun to play with mortals!'_ he thought, cackling silently.

However, by the time the girls turned around to see who had run their fingernail on the back of their necks, there was no one there. Sin crackled madly in the darkness, planning his next scare tactic on the blondes, but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt Raven's powers build up. He quickly forgot about the blondes and hurried to where the power was growing. He arrived when Raven had a strange boy pinned under twisted tables and chairs. It was obvious Raven had the situation under control, at least, that's what it looked liked, but he could feel the boy's energy build up before a blinding green light flared up. It was so bright, even he flinched from it. When he could see again he saw the boy gone, but he knew he was still nearby.

His first instinct was to go to Raven and make sure she was all right, but he could clearly see what the boy did to her. He violated her mind and messed with her emotions. His blood boiled in anger, he quickly went to search for this boy so he could slowly rip him apart! By the time he tracked him down to the harbor he was ready to kill the boy on the spot…but then he recognized the boy. It was Stefan's little soul stealer, Eric, that fact only increased his rage. He knew how Eric operated and what Stefan used him for. He started working out which torture method to use on Eric, but as he was thinking, he got an idea. This would be a good opportunity to see how Robin would fare against a tough opponent. Eric wasn't as strong as a Nosferatu like him or Stefan, but he was still dangerous.

Of course, Sin had no fears of Robin losing to Eric…but he had to make sure. He didn't like the idea of taking advantage of the situation just to see how formidable a vampire Robin was now. It sickened him that he was gonna do it, but it had to be done. If Robin was going to survive as a Nosferatu, a creature of darkness like himself, he had to be able to stand on his own in a fight. If Robin couldn't stand up to Eric, then what chances did he have against a tyrant like Stefan? Oh, well, no point in moping on the subject anymore, it was done with. Now he had to make sure Robin met Eric and keep the others from interfering, which might be tricky, but there wasn't a situation he couldn't make go his way. He teleported back to the Tower and waited for the dark Boy Wonder to rise.

When he stepped out of the darkness in Robin's room, he saw Raven sleeping next to Robin, the look on her slumbering face was heartbreaking. It pained him to see Raven all curled all next to Robin with that look on her face. He hated himself for taking his eyes off her just because he got bored, it could have been worse than it was, if Raven hadn't managed to fend Eric's charms off. That was an admirable victory all in its self, no woman or man has ever warded off Eric. He had to give her credit for not falling for an Incubus's mind tricks. Unfortunately, she might not be so lucky the next time, a next time, he would make sure wouldn't happen again. He melted into the shadows and watched them rest, until the sun began its slow descent.

Robin began to stir when the sun was halfway over the horizon. He awoke and yawned loudly. He was about to sit up, but something was hanging onto him. His first instinct was to reach for his Birdarang, but soon his brain registered that it was Raven. She clung to his trench coat with a death grip in her sleep. The next thing he noticed was her face was red, like she was crying. Worried, he gently shook her awake, saying her name.

"Raven...Raven, please wake up."

Raven slowly opened redden eyes and looked up to him. At first, she was overjoyed to wake up to see his face, but then all the events that happened came flashing back to her. The bottom of her lip began to quiver as she tossed her arms around his neck and began crying again. The glyphs on her belts were blazing around her. They got too bright, Robin had to look away, but he wrapped his arms around her waist and held her closer to him. All he could do was hold her while he cried on his chest.

Once she calmed down, Robin asked, "Raven, what's wrong, why are you crying?"

Raven looked up at him with sad and pain filled eyes. "S-Starfire and I went to the mall earlier today. I…I wasn't careful as I should have been. This boy just showed up out of nowhere and tried to….tried to…" Raven buried her face on his shoulder, trying to hold back her tears.

Robin sat up a bit and pulled her into a more comfortable position. "It's ok, Raven. Take your time," Robin said in a calming tone, stroking her hair.

The simple touch made her calm down and relax in his arms. She half closed her eyes and snuggled more into his arms, feeling safe and secured again.

"What happened, Raven," Robin asked concern fully.

"A boy tried to take control of me and make me think I was in love with him. It…It was so horrible…He almost won, but I was able to push back his mind tricks, just barely…" Raven said, crying silently on his shoulder.

Robin's eyes, always the color of blood, darkened at Raven's confession. So someone had attempted to take Raven from him. He would find that low-life piece of shit and kill him slowly. He was interrupted with his brute thoughts when Sin stepped out of the shadows by his bed.

"Is something the matter?" Sin asked, pretending to look worried.

"Some punk tried to make Raven think she loved him," Robin snarled. "Obviously, he's some kind of empath."

"An empath, huh?" Sin said, rubbing his chin. "Was there anything odd about this punk, Raven?" Sin asked.

"Yeah, he had really pale green eyes. They were glowing most of the time, but I could tell they were creepy," Raven replied, clutching Robin's trench absentmindedly.

"I think I know who it is," Sin said.

"You do?" Robin exclaimed. "Who is he; just tell me who the fucker is that laid his hands on Raven!"

"It can only be Eric. One of Stefan's servants. He's an Incubus. It's a miracle you got away from him, Raven. He can charm any mortal...well, not every mortal, it would seem, to do whatever he wanted. Love him, die for him. He's a dangerous bastard," Sin answered.

Despite the fact that he was a vampire, Robin believed very strongly in love. His faith in it had been shattered when Starfire rejected him, only to be restored when he discovered his love for Raven and hers for him. And to think some sick demon could manipulate an emotion such as love and twist it for his own purposes…it boiled his blood. His Evil Eye burned with his anger, illuminating everything in the room with its unholy light. This guy was going to pay for messing with not only the love of others, but for trying to take Raven away from him, the only person that stood by him no matter what has happened to him since they became Titans.

"He's dead when I find him," Robin vowed.

"Sure, but I warn you, he's not easy pickings," Sin replied.

"I don't care. I'll rip whatever that bastard calls a heart and let him watch it beat as I blast him to hell!" Robin growled.

Sin crackled. " _AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ What a bloodthirsty little fiend you've become, Robin! In that case, I can only say this: 'Faster, little Robin! Kill! Kill!'" This was followed by another insane laugh.

Raven stared at the laughing vampire. "Uh? I'm I the only one here that's bothered by us discussing about killing someone?" Raven inquired.

She thought Robin would agree with her, but when she looked up at him. She saw he had an expression on almost matched his creator. It was a rather scary sight, seeing the two vampires with such bloodthirsty expressions on their faces. Rationally, she knew that it was the nature of a vampire to kill, but it still frightened her how some vampires took such pleasure in it.

Sin walked up to the Robin. "Come! We must begin the hunt while the night is still young!" he said with excitement.

"Sure," Robin replied. He looked at Raven. "Will you be all right?" When he asked that question, his expression and voice had softened.

Raven smiled. _'Even if he acts as bloodthirsty as Sin. He's still the same old Robin.'_ Out loud she said. "I'll be fine, go kick his ass." She hugged him and kissed his cheek before getting off of him.

Robin gave her his renowned cocky grin and flipped off the bed. "I'll beat his ass good for you!" he replied, giving her a thumb's up.

"Robin, you go on ahead. I'll catch up with you. Oh...let's not let the others know about this. It'll make Speedy more 'upset'." His narrowed his eyes dangerous at the mentioning of the Archer.

"Sure," Robin agreed. He caught the narrowing of Sin's eyes upon saying Speedy's name and made a point to ask his vampiric "father" about that later, "later" being after Eric was dead.

He left the room and headed towards the roof. Sin waited till he knew Robin was out of ear shot. He turned to Raven and kneeled on one knee. "Raven, I'm not very good at these things, but I'm gonna try, anyway. I'm sorry," he said with a mixture of sadness and regret.

"Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about, Sin," Raven asked.

"I can't tell you why...not yet. But when I do, please understand I would never hurt you or Robin, ever," Sin said, cupping her cheek in his hand.

"Sin, you're not making any sense," Raven said, holding his hand.

"I know I'm not," Sin replied almost sadly. "But please understand. There are things I can't explain to you right now, but one day I will."

"Is everything all right?" Raven asked looking concern for her 'father'.

His devilish grin appeared on his face. "Oh, yes. Everything is quite all right. Hehehe!" He withdrew his hand and stood up. "We'll be back, my dear. Please don' let the others find out. This is a private matter between us night creatures, they'd never understand what we must do," Sin said.

"Okay, Sin. I'll make sure the others don't do anything," Raven replied.

"Good," Sin said. "I'll see you soon, my dear."

Then he transported himself out through the nearest available shadow. He glided through the familiar darkness as he looked with his mind where Robin was. He found him jumping over rooftops, searching with the vigorous of a predator for its prey. He appeared above Robin, flying over his head. When Robin made another leapt for the next roof, Sin tapped his head.

"Hi, Robin!" Sin said in a cheery voice.

Robin landed on the next roof and whirled to face Sin. "Don't do that!"

Sin floated down next to him, laughing amusedly. "What, and ruin all my fun?" he retorted.

Robin grumbled under his breath and turned away. "Get serious, Sin. We got to find Eric, fast!" he said with determination.

"I know," Sin replied. "However, once we find him, you'll have to fight him by yourself."

"Huh? Why?" Robin asked.

"Eric attacked your lover. In our laws, that's considered a challenge to you. In going after Raven, he challenged your authority, you are obligated to fight him alone or admit you are weak," Sin replied with a blank tone, like he was repeating someone else.

"Then I'll finish that bastard myself," Robin decided with venom in his voice.

Sin smiled with sadistic glee. "Yes, now let's find this trash before it gets too late." He made a show of looking around. Pretending to look serious as he sent his mind probes out through the city. When he was sure he made it look believable, he pointed towards the inner part of the city. "I feel a strange aura coming from that direction. I believe that may just be our little incubus."

Robin raced in the direction Sin had pointed out.

Sin slowly broke out in a dark laughter. _'Such eagerness! He truly is a becoming a Nosferatu…but tonight should prove if that's a fact or not..._ ' He quickly followed after Robin.

Sin leapt next to Robin. He made sure Robin was going in the right direction. As they approached where Sin knew Eric was waiting, he put out a hand in front of Robin to halt him.

"What? Why are we stopping?" Robin asked him impatiently.

"I can't help you in this fight, Robin. That also means I can't allow anyone else to interfere. As your Sire, I must keep this a private fight," Sin said.

Robin said nothing, sparing only a glance of understanding.

"Don't take this lightly, Robin. If there is a chance you are beaten. I can't come to bail you out, if he wants to kill you, then that's that. I can't do anything to help you…other than warn you to be cautious. He is an incubus, as such; he has the ability to charm any mortal with his powers. Man, woman, it does not matter. He can force you to love him. But that's not his deadliest secret. All he has to do is touch you, and he can siphon your energy away with less than a thought, understand?" Sin said in a serious tone.

"Got it," Robin replied.

Sin replaced his serious expression with his devilish one. "Will then," He pointed down at the parking lot. "Have at him!"

Robin raced at Eric with a speed that would make the Flash and anyone else who had the power of super-speed jealous. Robin landed gracefully. He scanned the empty parking lot, but there wasn't a sign of anyone here.

"Ok, I know you're here! Show yourself!" Robin demanded.

"Sure," a voice drawled.

Robin twirled around in a fighting stance. Out of the corner of the parking lot, came Eric. He walked up to Robin with an amused smirk. He was flipping a dagger in one hand with a skill that only one of that chosen weapon could possess.

"So, this is the Boy Wonder, huh?" Eric sneered. "Humph, I don't know why Sin would pick you to be his fledging, you don't look so tough."

"Haven't you ever heard of the expression: 'Never judge a book by its cover'?" Robin replied.

"Yes," Eric replied. "You're a lot stronger than you look, obviously, but you're still new to the whole 'creature of the night' thing and obviously you're not skilled enough to last against me."

"Wanna find out if that's true?" Robin said, pulling out his deadly Bo Staff.

Eric grunted in contempt. "You'll only be hastening yourself to a quick and early death," he replied, grabbing a good hold of his dagger.

"Sure about that?" Robin asked before popping out the spearheads in his Bo staff.

"Quite!" Eric said, and dashed at Robin, he became a black blur as he came at Robin.

If Robin was still a normal human, he would have been taken back by the sudden speed, but he wasn't human anymore. With his vampiric reflexes, he dodged in time to miss Eric's dagger from stabbing his stomach.

"Ah, you're good at this," Eric remarked. "Used to fighting for your life, aren't you?"

"Nope, just winning!" Robin smirked and spun his Bo Staff up to slice Eric.

Eric backed off in time to keep his throat from being cut open, but not fast enough to not get nipped at the chin. Eric looked up at Robin in shock and touched his bleeding chin. He stared at his own blood for a moment, soon glaring up at the young vampire with burning anger.

"How dare you cut me?!" Eric shouted heatedly.

"Does it hurt?" Robin asked in a mockingly apologetic tone. "Poor little incubus, scared of a little cut on his pretty face."

Eric roared with fury and ran at Robin again, bringing up his dagger to slice his head off. Robin ducked and slammed the pole of his Bo staff at his stomach. Eric was sent flying backwards, but he managed to twist in the air with the agility of a cat and land on his feet.

"Good," Robin said. "I wouldn't have as much fun if you died so quickly."

"Be as confident as you like, young one!" Eric hissed. "For it won't last for long!"

"Ooh, I'm shaking," Robin mocked as he charged at Eric with the Bo staff.

He swung the Bo Staff at Eric, aiming for his legs. Eric jumped to the side and rolled on the ground, back to his feet. He spun the dagger around in his hand and slashed Robin's exposed side. Robin moved out of the way to keep from losing an arm, but the blade cut into a bit deep into his arm. Fortunately for him, vampires healed quickly and so he wouldn't be too badly damaged by a cut to his arm. The wound sealed itself and Robin retaliated by pulling out three Birdarangs, but these were different from his old ones. Instead of there usually red and yellow, they were black with purple edge wings. The wings looked razor sharp. He threw them at Eric, who tried to move out of the way, but two of them sliced his arms while the third one impaled itself in the back of his hand, making him drop his dagger. Eric let out a scream of pain. Robin didn't wait for him to counter.

He charged Eric and roundhouse kicked him in the gut. Eric grabbed Robin's ankle and sucked some of his energy out to rejuvenate himself. Robin tried to kick his hand off, but the incubus had a strong grip, and it was getting stronger as he continued to steal his energy. Quick as lightning, Robin stabbed the hand on his ankle with his Bo Staff. Eric screamed and let go of Robin's ankle. Eric quickly got to his feet, pulling the Birdarang out of his hand. Once it was out of his flesh, the wound began to rapidly heal as fast as a vampire's. Eric glared at the weapon and tossed it aside.

"Did that hurt?" Robin asked coldly, all traces of mocking gone from his voice.

"Not as much as the pain you will be enduring very soon," Eric snarled. He bent his hand back and another dagger shot out of the sleeve.

He rose it up before him and it began to glow with pale green energy. It rose up and down the blade, like a serpent, ready to strike.

"Get ready to die, little birdie!" Eric said and slashed the dagger at Robin.

A flash of green energy slammed into Robin, sending him crashing into a parked car.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Robin asked.

"Do you like it? I can use my aura as a living weapon. All I have to is concentrate it with a weapon and I can cut down any opponent, it doesn't matter if they're far away or close up. They all get sliced up. It's a little trick I 'learned' from a psychic from the old country. She was very beautiful and strong. But she soon learned I was only after her technique and I was forced to end her life. Sad really, to have to end the life of a lovely flower such as hers," Eric sneered with a sinister smirk.

"You're a sick son of a bitch, you know that?" Robin snarled.

"It's a talent!" Eric mused, laughing cruelly.

As the fight continued, Sin watched. His watching was interrupted when he felt a presence moving toward Robin. It felt human, but contained a dark edge never seen in most humans. Sin melted into the darkness and appeared right in front of the human. Sin smirked as he scanned the black caped man with a pointed ear mask. What an unexpected surprise to run into the man that raised Robin and was the only human that rose terror in the hearts of criminals from the very mention of his name.

"May I ask what do we owe the honor of the Dark Knight of Gotham City in our fair little City?" Sin asked with a devilish grin.

"I'm here for Robin," Batman replied.

"Oh, really? Well, I'd like to help, but I'm afraid I can't let you have him," Sin said with a devilish grin.

"Don't make me hurt you," Batman growled.

"Do you know how many times I've heard that line? Come on, you can say something better than that!" Sin mocked.

Batman glared. "Who are you?"

"The question you should be asking is not who, but what?" Sin snickered.

"You're obviously not human," Batman replied. "I can tell by the way you move."

Sin performed a bow, but he never took his eyes off Batman. "True enough. I'm not human," he confirmed.

"So what are you, then?" Batman asked.

"Oh, now it wouldn't be any fun if I just told you! You're a detective, try to figure it out! Hehe, hehe!" Sin replied, widening his grin to a wicked smile.

"Fangs," Batman remarked. "Skin as white as moonlight. You're a vampire, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Sin said, flashing his fangs at the Dark Knight

"Or Nosferatu, as you like to be called," Batman replied. "Your name is Sin, isn't it? At least, that's what you like to call yourself."

"Wow! Right on the mark! Give the man a golden star!" Sin joked.

Batman just stared at him in that intimidating way he had of looking at most people. However, Sin was not most people, and he refused to be intimidated by a tormented human who liked to dress up as a bat and beat up criminals.

"I can keep this little staring game up all night," Sin cooed.

"What's going on?" Batman asked. "Who's Robin fighting?"

Sin glanced at the fight below them out of the corner of his eye. So far, Robin was managing quite well with dodging Eric's weird aura attack.

"Oh, just an incubus that works for a deranged mad man that is after Robin's girl and wants to enslave all mankind with her powers," Sin said causally.

"I see," Batman said. "Are you the one behind Robin's sudden change in attitude toward criminals?"

"More or less," Sin replied with an amused expression.

He strolled around the Batman, circling him like a shark. Batman just stood there, refusing to be intimidated by this strange and possibly insane vampire that was circling him. All that matter was getting by this strange creature and help Robin.

"Sorry, but like I said earlier. I can't let you help Robin," Sin said.

"Why not?" Batman asked, looking like he'd whip out a Batarang and decapitate the grinning vampire with it if this kept going.

"Because this is a challenge that only Robin must face. As his Sire, I can't let anyone help him, not even myself," Sin replied with a hint of what sounded like regret in his voice.

"Sire?" Batman asked. "So, I am to assume that you made him into a vampire like yourself."

The grinning Nosferatu did what most men would never do. He stopped circling Batman and stood right in front of him. He took a step forward, barely an inch from the Dark Knight's mask. He widened his left eye insanely and smiled so evilly, it would have scared most mortal men, but not this one. He let the moment build up before he whispered. "Yesssss..."

Batman's eyes hardened underneath his mask.

"Care to share what's going in that head of yours...or do you want me to voice them for you?" Sin asked.

"Go ahead," Batman replied. "It's nothing I haven't already thought."

"All right," Sin said, backing off a bit from his face. "You're tick, you're upset, YOU'RE PRETURBED! You're thinking about using that batarang you're about to reach for to cut me down and 'free' Robin from the 'curse'. Let's get one thing straight, even if you do kill me, Robin will still stay a Nosferatu."

Batman said nothing, as what Sin had said had been his own thoughts.

"So, what is the great Batman going to do, huh?" Sin jeered, it wasn't every day you got to meet and mess with a hero like Batman.

Batman just gave Sin a rather unsettling expression. On most people, it would have been a smile. On Batman, it was an expression of cold hard menace. Sin only began laughing in a way that would make the Joker jealous. He never took his eyes off Batman. All he did was widen them, as if he was waiting for Batman to challenge him.

"What will you do? Are you going to try and kill both Robin and me, like so many other bigots? Or are you just going to take another course of action?" Sin asked with a mocking smirk.

"Why should I kill you?" Batman asked. "Or Robin?"

Sin raised an eyebrow. "Because Robin is now a creature of the night. I'm the one that turned him into what he is now? I would expect Batman, the protector of Gotham, Robin's teacher to try some act to help him," Sin replied, waiting for any hostile response.

"Nosferatu or not, Robin's not evil," Batman replied. "And despite the fact that you're acting like an even crazier version of the Joker, I can tell that you're not evil, either."

"True, I'm not evil, at least, not anymore. You can thank your Robin and my dear Raven for that," Sin replied, softening his wicked expression.

Batman found himself resisting the urge to smile. Despite everything that had happened to tear them apart, he still loved Robin like he was his son, and he wanted him to be happy. He knew Robin well enough, that even if he was a vampire, something that drinks the blood of the living, he knew Robin would never become a deranged monster. Somehow he knew this strange creature before him wouldn't let that happen.

"Is there some kind of law that prevents me or you from helping Robin in this fight?" Batman asked.

"Yes, Eric, the incubus he is fighting right now, challenged Robin by going after Raven. In our laws, when someone challenges you, you must accept it...if not, then you admit you are weak. And that is something none of my kind will stand for. The weak cannot survive for long in our society," Sin said, looking grim as he said each word.

"Survival of the fittest," Batman remarked.

"Indeed..." Sin replied.

The crazy vampire turned away from the Dark Knight. He went to the edge of the roof and watched the fight.

"He is handling that Incubus quite well, don't you agree?" Sin asked.

Batman observed the fight. True enough, Robin was handling himself well, moving with an agility and fluidity never before seen in him. It didn't escape his notice that his attacks were lethal, but he was doing well. "Yes," the Dark Knight finally replied.

"Hehe, our Boy Wonder really has become something else over these last few months. Of course, I don't expect you to be happy about that, right?" Sin mused, glancing out of the corner of his eye.

He broke out in another psychotic laughter as he sensed Batman's restlessness. Despite the fact that he knew Sin wasn't evil, his laughter made him want to punch his lights out. Sin stopped laughing slowly when he sensed regret in Batman. Regret for how his and Robin's partnership had come to an end.

Sin turned his face to him. "To let you know, Robin still cares about you like a father, even with the differences you two had. He never really hated you."

Batman's face-what one could see of it, anyway-was impassive. Still, he said, "Thank you."

Sin nodded his head and returned his attention to the fight. He saw Robin wasn't fairing too good against Eric anymore. The incubus had started draining his energy with each punch he blocked from Robin. Sin fought the urge to go down there and help, but he knew this was an important lesson for Robin. He had to learn to stand up for himself, or he will never be able to survive as a vampire.

He decided to occupy his time by talking to his fledgling's mentor some more. "I know you didn't just come here to check on Robin. So you might as well confess the 'other' reason you're here," Sin said.

"I heard that you were staying at Titans Tower," Batman admitted. "I wanted to know just what exactly you were up to with the Titans."

"Oh, nothing much, just raising a fledgling. Keeping a deranged vampire from getting his hands on my Raven," Sin replied in a dry tone.

"Stefan?" Batman filled in.

Sin didn't let it show on his grinning face, that he was surprised Batman knew about him. "Yes...he is after Raven. If he gets his hands on her, then nothing can stand in his way. Her blood allows my kind to walk in the day. Robin is, pardon the expression, 'living' proof of that. But I fear he has more in store with her, if he does get Raven," Sin said, sounding a little worried.

"If you're wondering how I know about Stefan, I make it a point to do research on people who enter Robin's life," Batman said. He didn't elaborate on why, figuring Sin would read his mind to get the answer if he wanted to know that badly.

"Well, you are the great detective of Gotham, after all. No, I don't care to know. I can guess easily enough. Robin is like a son to you. Like any father, they want to make sure their child is in good hands," Sin replied.

Batman did not respond to that, he only watched the fight between Robin and Eric. _'Come on, Robin,'_ he thought.

Meanwhile, the fight continued and it seemed like Robin was getting tired. Vampiric regeneration should have given him the ability to go on and on, but it didn't work as fast if the vampire in question had chunks of his life force sucked out of him by an incubus. Eric didn't seem to be tiring from the fight. In fact, he looked like he was getting better as this fight dragged out. It was then Robin remembered Sin's warning. Eric could suck his energy with a simple touch. It took Robin a split second to figure out what was going on. Eric was draining him with each one of his punches or kicks he blocked. That was the bastard's plan! He was buying his time while Robin used up his energy and then he'd strike when he had no more energy to defend himself with.

' _How do I get out of this?'_ Robin wondered. _'I can't just stop fighting, and it's obvious I can't keep my distance from him if I want to stand a chance of winning.'_

He was beginning to feel too weak to use his Evil Eye. If he missed with it, all that would accomplish is weaken him faster. There had to be a way to beat this guy, but how? Well, if he couldn't blast him or beat the crap out of him, you freeze his ass! Robin reached into his utility belt and pulled out a Freezo Disk and tossed it at Eric.

Eric simply caught the freeze disk and grinned wickedly at Robin. "Really? Is this the best you can do?"

 _'Smug bastard!'_ he cursed, but then grinned wickedly. "No, this is!" Robin pulled out and tossed a birdarang at the Freezo Disk in Eric's hand, it caused the disk to explode, freezing his whole arm. Then Robin rushed at Eric and punched his elbow, shattering his arm.

Eric screamed with an inhuman voice and cradled what was left of his arm. He choked back the pain and glared at Robin. He took advantage of the moment and grabbed Robin's throat. With all his will, he sucked as much of Robin's energy out of him, then his used the spiky ice over what was left of his arm to stab Robin his the shoulder. Robin screamed and fell to his knees from the pain and his weakening body. Eric pulled out his icy remains of his arm out of Robin, and he let go of his throat, only so he could kick Robin's face. The kick threw Robin on his back with a dazzled and pained expression on his face. He tried to get up, but Eric jumped on top of him, and he slammed his hand down on Robin's face, so hard, Robin's head cracked the pavement.

Eric smiled sadistically while he slammed Robin's head repeatedly into the pavement. "See! This is what you get for messing with me! You, your slut, and that damn eye of yours!" Eric yelled viciously.

During the whole fight, Eric has been looking at Robin's Evil Eye. It glared at him, as it did in the half-demon's mind. Taunting him, mocking him, all with each glance into that horrid eye.

' _That Eye, that damned Eye mocks me,'_ he thought _. 'It's mocking me!'_ That thought repeated in his mind, making him angrier and angrier.

He bashed Robin's head with all his might onto the pavement, trying to claw his face off, so his could rip that taunting eye of his skull.

"I'll tear that eye out and eat it, then I'll suck every part of your being, leaving nothing behind but a dried up corpse! That eye will be mine! It will learn to never mock me, again!" Eric shrieked.

To Eric's surprise, Robin began to laugh and laugh quite loudly. The laughter rang in his ears. Eric was growing more infuriated by the young Nosferatu's laughing.

"Wha-What's so damn funny!" Eric demanded.

The Evil Eye began to glow with its unholy light. Robin laughed more psychotically as his body began to glow the same as his eye. Eric might have drained most of his energy, but he couldn't take away his anger, his pain, the very memory of waking up to see Raven crying in his arms, it was all he needed for the wrath he was going to show this incubus. Robin gazed with a hint of wildness in his revealed eye.

"Hah, hah! I've got my eye on you!" Robin said with a singsong tone. A dark light began to glow under Eric's hand, it slowly began to rip the flesh off of his hand.

"W-What's happening!" Eric said fearfully.

"Just what you wanted, Motherfucker! My eye…or should I say… _ **Demon Eye!**_ "

A huge dark beam of negative energy erupted from the Evil Eye, it shredded its way up Eric's arm and totally engulfed his upper torso in the deadly energy. The blast traveled up into the night sky, lighting up the whole night with its eerie light.

Batman couldn't stop himself from gasping in shock. "What the hell was that?"

"A really pissed off Boy Wonder. _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin replied, laughing maniacally.

The beam brightened the whole area, until it slowly died down. Robin slowly tried to close his eye. Once he closed his eye, it stopped the attack. Robin laid on his back, completely exhausted, and his right eye was bleeding dramatically fast. Sin was fast to act, he jumped down to Robin and ran to him. When he approached, he saw that all that remained of Eric was a smoking waist, and his lower torso.

"Robin!" Batman shouted and rushed to him as well, pulling out gauze bandages with which to cover his bleeding eye.

Sin tossed aside the remains and placed his hand over the bleeding eye. A dark light glowed in the Nosferatu's palm as shadows kept the blood from pouring out of the eye. Once Batman got over to them. Sin removed his hand to let Batman put on the gauze bandages. Robin was too dazed to noticed that Batman was over him and bandaging his eye up. Once Batman was finished bandaging his former partner's eye, he looked at the young Nosferatu and said, "Rest, Robin."

At the sound of a familiar voice, Robin looked up at his old mentor. "B-Batman? W-What a-are you-u doing h-here?"

Sin pulled Robin in his arm and held him close to him. "It's all right, my child. He's here to check up on you," Sin said with a calm and warm tone. He positioned Robin, so his face was near his neck. "You need to feed now, you're very weak."

Robin did as he was told, he leaned his face up and bit down on his Sire's throat, already feeling better as the blood poured into his mouth. Sin tilted his head enough to let Robin have a better angle to drink from him. He held Robin like a father holding a son. Most people would have looked away from the scene, but not Batman. He watched, curious to know what vampirism was like in action. Strangely enough, the sight wasn't nearly as horrifying as many would think. There wasn't anything hostile or violent about the way Sin let Robin drink from him, trusting Robin with his lifeblood to save his. Sin held Robin closer, stroking his hair.

"I'm very proud of you, Robin," Sin whispered.

After a minute, which felt longer to Robin, he dislodged himself from Sin's neck. The blood healed Robin quickly, giving him enough energy to talk.

"Batman, why did you come to check on me?" Robin asked.

"I was worried," Batman replied.

It wasn't often to hear Batman admitted he was worried. He looked at his old mentor with a weak smile. "I'm doing just fine," he joked.

"If you minus the fact you just fought an incubus that almost killed you," Sin added with a smirk.

"It's not you I'm worried about so much as Stefan," Batman explained.

"He will be taken care of soon, Batman. Our kind is working on dealing with Stefan at this moment, it's a matter of a few nights before they 'take care' of him," Sin replied, but he sounded like he didn't believe a single word of it.

"You don't believe any of what you just told me, do you?" Batman deduced.

"I wish I did, but I know Stefan all to well. He isn't going to stand idle and let the Council decide his fate. He will retaliate somehow," Sin sadly admitted.

"Then what do we do to stop him?" Robin asked.

"Stefan is too clever a bastard, he plans for everything. The only way to beat him is for him to make a mistake. And those are rare," Sin replied.

"So you're saying there's no hope to keep Stefan away from Raven?" Batman asked, crossing his arms.

Sin looked up and met Batman's hardened eyes. He gave him an evil smile and sat up, picking Robin up in his arms with him. "Oh, there is hope. Hehe, hehe, ha, ha, _AHAHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin crackled. "Stefan may be a clever bastard, but I'm trickier than the devil himself! _AHAHAHAHAHAHA!_ "

"You'd have to be, to deal with a monster like him," Batman remarked.

Sin tilted his head to the side and looked at Batman amusedly. "Kinda. _Hehehehehe!_ "

Robin looked at Batman, years of being around him let him read how Batman was feeling. He noticed his jaw was slightly to the side, indicating Batman was a bit confused. He gave his old mentor an understanding look.

"Don't worry, he's always like this," Robin said.

Batman only stared at the laughing vampire.

"If you stick around long enough, you might get used to him," Robin added.

"If?" Batman replied.

Sin laughed harder, soon joined by Robin. They laughed almost together with the same pitch, it was very unnerving, at least for someone else, but Batman didn't seem to be bothered with it, even though his insides were squirming a bit. He decided now was probably a good time to leave. He could figure out how to help Robin with Stefan back in Gotham.

"Well, I guess you're all right for right now, Robin. So I'll be returning to Gotham. I'll see what I can do about Stefan for you," Batman said.

"Thanks," Robin replied.

Batman looked straight into Sin's eyes. "You better take good care of him and the other Titans," Batman said, giving him a stern glance.

"Don't worry about a thing, Pointy-Ears," Sin remarked jovially. Then his voice grew dead serious. "I would much rather die than allow any harm to befall them."

"I'll hold you to that," Batman replied, then he pulled out his grapping hook.

He pointed it over his head and fired it. He hit the other button, and he was pulled up into the sky. Robin and Sin glanced up to see Batman climb into the Batjet and fly off.

"Man knows how to make an exit," Sin snickered.

"Yeah," Robin replied. He then remembered Sin was still holding him like a child. "Uh? Can you put me down? I think I can walk on my own now."

"Okay," Sin said and dropped Robin.

Robin landed hard on his rear. He sat up and glared at Sin. "Ouch! That hurt!" he growled.

"Let's you know you're alive! _AHAHAHAHA!_ " Sin laughed.

Robin glared at him and kicked his feet out from under him. Sin fell down, still laughing.

"Ah, I see you've gotten back that spirit of yours!" Sin remarked in between his fits of laughter.

"Why you!" Robin said through clinched teeth.

He tackled Sin and they rolled around on the ground, wrestling. Kicking clouds of dust all around them. Sin won, because he wasn't as tired and he had longer limbs than Robin. He pinned Robin to the ground and smirked at him triumphantly.

"I win!" he said, flashing a fanged smile.

"Grr!" Robin growled.

"We better get back to the Tower. I'm sure Raven will want to here the good news," Sin said, winking at Robin.

Robin smiled. He couldn't wait to tell Raven the good news. However, he wondered if she might be slightly disappointed that she didn't get to meet Batman. After all, the two were quite similar in demeanor. Ah, there was always next time. He took the hand and Sin pulled him pull. He nodded his head towards the Tower.

"Let's go!" Robin said and raced off towards the Tower, to his Raven.

Sin reared his head back and laughed out loud. He soon followed Robin into the night.

A/N: *Big sigh of relief* Damn, that was a long chapter! I hope this makes it up to every body for taking so long to update this story. I'm trying really hard to work on these and survive college, so give me a little break! Anyway, hope this was to your liking and worth the long wait. Till next time…Cya!


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, just Sin, Stefan, Lynx, and this story.

A/N: Sorry, I've taken so long to update, my new quarter has just started up, and I've got some strenuous classes this time…so bare with me for a while. I'll still continue to update my stories as fast as I can. Oh…as for Mike13 aka. SHINAGAMI VIRUS. I haven't heard from him for some time now. I don't know what's going on or why they keep taking his story off. I have an idea, but I'm not going to say it to keep people from believing something that might be wrong. I'll try to contact him and see what the deal is, but that may take some time, so I ask for everyone to be patient, even though I'm just as impatient as the rest of you as to how his story will unfold!

To Mrs. Odd Della Rebbia: Thank you for reading my story, and I'm glad to see there are some people out there that recognize what a Nosferatu is, and not just the game version. I'll try not to disappoint you with waiting for so long.

To Kaiden Jurei: Heh, heh. Yes, I was inspired for that scene after I reread Tell-tale Hearts by Edgar Allen Poe. He was and still is to me the best gothic writer in history.

To Blackstar Ravenwing: I was quite amazed by the reviews you gave me…but there are a few things I'd like to clear up. One, I had no intention of offending any Wiccan that reads this story, nor have I mentioned in either of my stories that using pentagrams or pentacles were evil or considered unholy. If anyone who has practices the use of magic in their daily lives, one would know off the bat that a circle of protection is required to perform any spell whether it be a simple one or a complicated one. And if anyone knows or read any of Konstantino's books, you would understand where I'm coming from. Magic has all forms in this world and the night is no different. It doesn't mean using it makes one instantly evil, just different and quite misunderstood. I know I sound like Malchior right now, but he was right, even if he was just manipulating Raven to meets his own ends. That, and the magic he uses and the kind used in the real world are very much different, but the fact still remains that using night magic is not evil. Two, as I've told everyone before, I'm quite busy and I try to get these updates done for everyone and check them for errors, but I get rushed a lot and miss a few spelling and grammar mistakes, but I've been getting in the habit of taking another day to just go over all the spelling in my stories. Of course, this keeps me from posting early, but I think you would agree with me when I was its better to read a good story and not have to worry about simple mistakes ruining it. All right, now that I've said that, I wish to thank you again for all the reviews you sent me, especially the one you gave me for 'Spin the Bottle', that one really made me feel like I'm getting better with my writing, and that I've help inspire you to continue your writing, that makes me feel quite good that I help inspire others.

Oh, and to any other Wiccan reading this. *Bows head* I truly do not mean to offend any of you with the contents in my story, I ask you to just remember that it's just a story and not based on true facts on life. And if anyone has seen Hellsing, you'll have noticed that they use a pentagram on Alucard's gloves and over the Hellsing Manor to keep him sealed to the Hellsing family.

To Satanachia: I've read a few of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes books, and I do like her stuff. And I've got all the copies of Cirque De' Freak that are out right now, all very good indeed! If you love reading those books then you'll reading Laurell K. Hamilton's 'Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter series' Trust me, it's not another Buffy story. Hell, Anita can kill Buffy ten times over if she wanted to without flinching. Another good piece of vampire fiction is Brain Lumley's Nercoscope series. It's about a man that can talk to the dead and fights vampires with the aid of his dead friends. Actually, it was from this series that inspired me to give Robin his Evil Eye.

To VampireSlayer: Wow, that was a lot of useful information. Thanks, for taking the time to send it to me in a review, but I just want to make it clear that my version of Nosferatu's aren't like the ones in the game. If they were I don't think anyone would like Sin or Death Robin, know what I mean, lol! But I like to talk to anyone that researches vampires, if we ever wish to have a discussion just e-mail.

To Kumi: I wanted to thank you again for sending me another one of your reviews. If I ever manage to publish one of my books, I'll make sure everyone here knows.

To Sophia: Thanks for the poem you sent me. I liked it so much that I had to add it to this story for everyone to read. So, everyone please thank her for this, thank you.

 **Grisly Message**

Darkness, only darkness, that was all Blackfire dreamt. Her mind reeled in the inky void that inhabited the world she was in. Nothing but the emptiness in this void that she floated in swim through her mind. She tried to recall anything, anything that might explain why she was here, but she only was greeted with a cold, silent darkness.

' _Who am I…?'_ she thought.

' _ **You are my child…Blackfire,'**_ a dark, cold voice said in her mind.

' _Blackfire? I-Is that my name?'_ she asked.

' _ **Yesssssss, that is how and what I will always call you, servant,'**_ the voice said.

' _I'm your servant?'_ she asked. _'I-Is that my purpose?'_

' _ **That is only part of what you are to me, servant. You are my wrath, my right hand. You will seek out all my enemies and smite them down for me…my Blackfire,'**_ the voice said.

' _Your wrath…'_ she repeated over and over in her head, it soon became her mantra.

Yes, there were many things she couldn't remember, but she understood wrath in all its forms. Wrath was the one thing she knew for sure in this dark void. To be wrath for her master…yes, it all made sense to her now. Now that he said it, she felt a burning desire to bring carnage and mayhem on those that dare challenge her master. They will all suffer in agony for wishing to prevent her master's plans. Oh, indeed, they will all pay in blood!

' _ **That's the attitude I wish to see in my child!'**_ the voice said with a hint of pride and satisfaction in his cold tone. _**'I believe you are ready…but we will see if you truly are ready."**_

She suddenly saw a ghostly hand pierce the darkness before her. Fear poured into her being as the hand opened its long, haunting fingers and slowly approached her. She tried to back away from the hand, but there was nothing for her to grab onto, no ground, no air, nothing. She screamed as the hand's ghastly fingers wrapped around her, caressing her skin with its cold touch. She shivered to the core as the hand tightened its grip and started pulling her toward some unseen place. Her hair flapped around, as if a wind was blowing it, but she felt no wind against her face, only the bone chilling cold numbing her body from the ghostly hand's embrace. She couldn't tell how long she was being pulled other than the coldness slowly spreading through every part of her entire being. She couldn't take it anymore; her body was stiffening up almost to the point where she couldn't move her body. Just when she was about to let the bitter cold take her to oblivion, she awoke…

Blackfire opened her eyes. At first, everything was just a blur to her, there were small orange lights all around her, but she couldn't make out what was emitting them. She moaned slightly as she sat up, her whole body felt heavy and it hurt every time she moved a muscle. If that wasn't enough, she was hungry…every hungry, it was so bad it made all her other aches feel like nothing. Her mouth was so dry; she had to find something to drink. It was then that her vision started to focus. She found out that all the orange lights came from red candles all around her. The light stung her eyes as her vision cleared; she hissed and covered her eyes from the offensive light. She sensed more than heard that someone else was with her in the decrypt room, then a cold hand gently touched her hair, making her flinch away and hissing at however touched her.

"Be calm," a cold voice commanded.

She suddenly felt a wave of comfort in her mind, relaxing her stiff muscles and succumbing to the voice.

"There, now. We can't have a total beast for a child, can we?" the voice said.

"Who…Who…are…" Blackfire tried to speak, but her throat was too dry for her to speak.

"I am your master, Stefan Tartarus, but you will only call me master," Stefan said, stroking a few of her dark locks.

"M-Master…" Blackfire said weakly. "I-I'm hungry…"

"Yes, I know, that is why I have provided you with what you need," Stefan said, smirking cruelly as he slowly turned her head to a teenage girl chained to the wall. "There is your meal, now feed, I have much in store for you once you regain your strength."

Blackfire stared at the girl. Her new senses drove her wild as she sensed the girl's fears. She crawled onto her hands and knees and eyed the girl much like a cat eyeing a frightened mouse. The girl whimpered and pleaded to be set free, but her words fell on deaf ears. Blackfire's hunger made her only focused on the blood she saw pumping through the girl's veins, soon her beast arose in her, egging her to do what she needed to do, take the blood, feed and finally feel satiated. Just as her beast was provoking her, she felt her top canine teeth extend down to fangs. She opened her mouth slightly to give them room, and she slowly licked each one as she crawled to the edge of the table toward the girl. The candlelight was forgotten to her; she didn't pay any mind to the stinging pain they caused her eyes to feel. Her hunger made her past feeling pain, only the desire to feed.

She barely pushed herself off the table, but she leapt a good distance from the table at the chained teenager. She dug her fingers into the girl's shoulder and savagely bit down on the teenager's neck, almost ripping out her entire throat. Blood gushed out of girl's neck like a geyser, spraying the walls and Blackfire in a crimson sheet. Blackfire didn't mind the carnage she was inflicting, as a matter of fact, it made her more excited. She bit down harder, drinking the blood in mouthfuls and shivering in delight as the blood warmed her body. The teenager's final plea was drowned out as her life blood spilled out of her lacerated throat. Blackfire didn't stop drinking, even when there was hardly any blood left in the corpse, she still tried to lick any minuscule drop of blood from the wound. Stefan stared in pure satisfaction at his fledgling. She would be everything he planned her to be, a ravaging, blood-lusting berserker. He strolled over to his child and brushed her hair off her blood soaked face. Blackfire looked up at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"I want more…please, let me have more," Blackfire whimpered.

"Soon, my child," Stefan said. "Soon, you will have all the blood you could desire. But first, we need to clean you up and get you into cleaner clothes. These rags don't suit such a deified creature as you."

Blackfire smiled, but there was no humor in it, that smile held a murderous intent in it. She would make her master happy so she could have her fill of blood. Stefan pulled her away from the corpse, leading her to her new abode to refreshing her up. He had many plans for her and once he prepared her, he had many 'chores' for you to do, many 'chores' indeed…

At Titan Tower, the team was lounging about in the living room. Robin, who was now fully healed, was playing video games with Beast boy and Cyborg. Speedy, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest were playing a card game with Sin and they were losing badly to the cunning Nosferatu. Starfire was watching them play, trying to figure out why the term 'royal flush' didn't mean what it sounded to her.

In her room, Raven was mediating; her belt was lying next to her on the floor. Once she was done with her mediation session, she put back on her belt and was about to go join Robin when she spotted a book by her mirror. She didn't remember putting it there last night. She walked over to it cautiously. The last book she thought was harmless contained an evil dragon in it. But her fears went away when she spotted a bird with its wings spread out; at the center was a purple eye. The symbol had become Robin's new logo since he discovered his strange eye. She guessed he left it here last night after he came back from dealing with that incubus. Curious, Raven wondered what Robin would keep in the book. She opened it up and found a marker in it. She flipped to where the marker was and found a poem titled…

'My Dark Love'

You came to me in my dreams,

And saved me from the loneliness and rejection

Of the breaking of an illusion,

I was once living in the Light,

Blinded by a sense of righteousness,

Never knowing what lay beyond,

Suddenly, I was thrown into the darkness,

I thought it was a curse,

Yet you and my crazy loving master showed me otherwise,

You came to me out of the darkness,

When I was lost, a child of light,

Lost in darkness,

You came,

To hold my hand,

And tell me that you will always be by my side,

You and I

My dark mistress,

Walk hand in hand,

Down the years,

By the light of the moon and stars,

Once so mysterious and frightening,

Now is my life,

With you, and my father,

The loving and beloved father to us both,

By my side,

I have found fulfillment,

This is where I am meant to be,

I am now complete,

I am a true Child of Night.

She was so moved by the poem that she felt her heart ache more for the Boy Wonder. She closed the book and hurried off to the living room to her dark lover. She floated up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him affectionately.

"Whoa, what I do to get that?" Robin asked.

"Just for being you," Raven replied, kissing his lips quickly.

"Well, if that's all it takes to get that, I wonder what I'd get if I actually try something," Robin said, winking at Raven playfully.

"Maybe later tonight, if you're really good," Raven whispered in his ear.

Robin smiled wickedly. "I'm always good...just not when beating the hell out of the bad guys."

While he was gazing at Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg were beating him in the racing game they were playing. It wasn't until Robin heard his car crash into the rails did he fumbled with his controller, but it was too late, his car was totaled. Raven giggled while Robin tossed the controller away, yelling at the other two for not pausing the game.

"Hey, man, you snooze, you lose!" Cyborg said, happily taking the lead.

Beast Boy had enough sense to not add a comment himself when he saw Robin's Evil Eye glowing. Over at the table, Starfire was looking at Speedy's hand. Speedy was smiling confidently with the full house he had. He looked around and saw that Hot Spot and Wildebeest's faces didn't look to happy with their hand. He saw Sin still had that grin on his face, but he figured that Sin kept using that look to hide his facial expressions.

"Anyone open?" Speedy asked.

"Nah, I can't hope to win with this hand," Hot Spot said, folding his cards.

Wildebeest grunted and tossed his cards onto the middle of the table.

"What about you, Sin?" Speedy asked, giving him a defying smirk.

"I'm still in," Sin said, widening his grin an inch.

Speedy didn't bother drawing for another card; he had this game in the bag. Speedy slammed down his cards showing everyone his hand. "Full house, baby!"

Sin's face faltered, a frowned crept up at the corner of his mouth. "Gosh, it looks like you've got me…"

Speedy started laughing and shaking his hands in the air. "Yoo-hoo!"

"…If I didn't have this," Sin added, revealing his hand, he had four aces. His grin returned in all its devilish glory.

"WHHAAAATTT!?" Speedy yelled in total disbelief. "How could you have gotten such a good hand in three rows straight!?"

"I've been playing cards against the best, that's why, but I still have a hard time when playing him," Sin replied.

"Who do you usually play this game with, Sin?" Starfire asked.

A soft grin rose up on Sin's face. "….Charion, when it comes to playing against the odds, he's the best."

"Are you close friends?" Starfire wondered.

"He's my oldest friend, probably the only one I really had before I met you all," Sin replied, while picking up the cards and reshuffled them idly. "He saved me from…a bad time in my life. From that day on, we've been good friends."

"What kinda bad time were you going through exactly?" Speedy asked.

Sin leaned over the table and gave the archer the wickedest of smiles. "I wasn't always as nice as I am now, be grateful you weren't born around that time."

Speedy gulped and pulled back away from Sin. "Uh...yeah."

Sin chuckled and put the cards away. "Speaking of my friend, I wonder how he's doing right now?"

"Do you know where he is?" Starfire asked.

"I know where he is and what he is doing, but I wonder if he's alright. Things have been crazy with the Council since Stefan has started up all this trouble with openly attacking your tower with the abominations," Sin replied, he was about to say something else, but out of the blue, a knocking sound came from the door.

"Who's there?" Robin demanded, instantly jumping off the couch and landing gracefully with a birdarang in his hand.

There was no answer, only another knock on the door. Robin nodded for the others to get in position by the door and be ready. They all swiftly surrounded the door, ready for who or whatever was knocking on their door.

"How'd they get in this far without the alarms going off?" Cyborg whispered. "I was sure they would pick up anything that tried to enter the Tower."

Beast Boy shrugged and stared back at the door.

"Sin, do you sense who's on the other side? I can't feel anything," Robin said.

"I was just trying to, but I fear I sense nothing as well," Sin replied with an edge of worry in his tone.

"Who or what could it be then?" Beast boy asked.

"Well, I'd say a raven, knocking on the door, but she's in here with us," Sin snickered.

"…Very funny," Raven said in her monotone voice.

Sin chuckled and walked over to the door. "I'll open the door, if whatever's behind that door has a weapon; I'm the least likeliest one to be harmed by it."

Robin nodded. "Okay, but be careful."

Sin smirked at him and approached the door, but before he could open it, the doors automatically opened and a silver blur rushed out at him. "Fangy!"

"…Oh, good grief," Sin muttered, before being tackled by the silver blur.

He and the silver blur tumbled backwards all the way through the living room. They only stopped when Sin's head collided with the back of the couch. When Sin looked up, he found a boy looking in his late teens sitting on his stomach. The boy had long sliver hair down to his shoulders and strikingly bright golden eyes. He had a playful smile that reminded Sin of a cat's. Another reason for this was the boy had two sets of fangs on his top and bottom teeth. He was dressed in a black fish-net shirt with grey cargo pants. He had a spiked collar around his neck and when Sin glanced down he saw he had spiked bracelets and was wearing black combat boots. All in all, the boy looked handsome with his youngish looks. From the glimpse past his fish-net shirt, he could see the ripped abs and toned chest, but the way his body was built was very lithe and agile. If it wasn't the boy's odd features that struck anyone that he wasn't normal, it was the pair of cat ears on top of his head and a silver furred tail with white spots flipping back and forth behind him.

The boy leaned down to Sin's face, giving him a cheery smile. "How're you doing, Fangy?"

The others walked over to them, surrounding them. "Sin, you know this guy?"

"Yes, and if he doesn't get off me, I'm going to personally neuter him," Sin growled, glaring up at the boy.

"Sheesh, you don't have to threaten me, you could have simply said please," the boy said.

"I have asked you, Lynx, a dozen times, but you still do it, anyway," Sin replied.

"Okay, Okay," Lynx said.

The boy proclaimed Lynx, jumped off Sin and flipping in the air. He landed on the backrest of the couch, balancing on the ball of his feet on it with that cheery smile still on his face.

Starfire giggled at Lynx's antics. Beast Boy tried, but his antics were not nearly as amusing as those of the catlike boy named Lynx.

Robin sensed Speedy's rising jealousy. _'Aw, shit, he better not start up again,'_ he thought.

Lynx's ears perked up when he heard the alien girl's laughter, his mouth hanged open and then he whistled at her. "Hi there, cutie."

"Hello, Lynx," Starfire greeted pleasantly, while Speedy gritted his teeth in the early stages of jealous rage.

Lynx ignored the glaring archer; his eyes were glued to the beautiful redheaded angel before him.

Sin got up and dusted himself off. "So, what brings you here, Lynx? I thought you went back home after I asked you to drop those pictures at the newspaper," Sin said.

"What?! You mean he was the one who gave them those pictures!" Speedy shouted, glaring at both Sin and Lynx.

"Not only that, but I was the one who shot those photos. Heh, heh! Hey, I've still lots of copies, want one?" Lynx said with a mischievous smile.

"No, I don't," Speedy replied curtly.

Lynx's face momentarily fell and Starfire felt sad. He looked like a cute little kitten that had just been kicked.

Sin rubbed Lynx's head, messing up his hair and laughing lightly. "Just ignore the human, Lynx. He's a grouch to any of our kind."

"He's a Nosferatu, too!?" Speedy asked.

"I'm a wereleopard, not a Nosferatu like Fangy here or the freaky eyed kid over there," Lynx said, his tail flared up in announce.

"Wereleopard? Don't you mean, werewolf, dude?" Beast Boy asked.

"Fucking moron!" Lynx yelled. "Gaah! 'Vampires' and werewolves, that's all you humans know! There are other species, too, dolt! Like wereleopards, such as my handsome self. We're feline-based rather than lupine-based."

"Sorry, dude, I didn't mean to get your fur riled up," Beast Boy said, waving one hand in an apologetic manner.

"It's cool!" Lynx said, smiling brightly again.

Cyborg leaned down to Beast Boy's ear. "It is just me or does he remind you of someone?"

"Yeah, I got the same feeling," Beast Boy whispered.

"I can hear you two perfectly, you know?" Lynx said to them. "These ears are more than just show for the ladies."

"Uh...sorry, dude," Beast Boy said bashfully at being caught.

Starfire walked over to him and gave him a wondering look. "May I?"

"Sure! Anything for you, cutie!" Lynx said.

Starfire smiled happily and touched his ears; she scratched the fur, making Lynx's eyes half close in a dream-like trance. Oddly enough, a soft purring sound rose up from him as Starfire scratched his ears more. Robin actually smiled when he saw this. It was a rather sweet moment that shone some light in the darker corners of his soul. In all honesty, he had never seen Starfire as content as she was now. Starfire was giggling and smiling so happily, like how she used to before he was changed into a Nosferatu. She might have kept scratching the wereleopards ears, if she didn't notice the sparks flying from Speedy's grinding teeth. She quickly stopped, much to Lynx's disappointment and smiled at him again.

"Thank you for allowing me to touch your ears, they are very cute and soft," Starfire said.

"You're welcome, cutie," Lynx replied with a soft blush.

Robin heard a chuckle and looked over at Sin, who had a even more devilish grin than usual. _'Crap, he's thinking about something mischievous, I know that look too well.'_

Sin replaced his smile with a simple amused one. "If you're done playing the cute kitty, that I know for a fact your not, why haven't you returned to Charion?

"Cause he sent me to give you a message, I was the closet one to give you the message. It's real urgent, more urgent than anything he usually makes me do. I think it's more urgent than anything else I've ever done!" Lynx rambled on, until Sin covered his mouth with his hand.

"And what, pray tell, is so urgent that he sent you to deliver this message?" Sin asked, beginning to get annoyed.

"Mhff ih hoou oogh hoou ahddd!" Lynx mumbled.

"What he say?" Beast boy asked.

Lynx pushed Sin's hand away. "I said if you move your hand, I'll tell ya!"

"Well, get to it then!" Sin snapped.

"Right! Uh...now, what was it that Charion told me to tell you?" Lynx said, tapping his head.

"You don't remember?!" Sin shouted, with a note of irritation in his voice.

"I do remember! I just can't seem to recall it, that's all," Lynx replied defensively.

Sin growled at the wereleopard and was getting ready to smack him upside the head to get him to remember.

"Oh! I remember now!" Lynx said excitedly that he remembered. "He told me to tell you that the secret got out to the rest of the Nosferatu, they know about Raven." After he was done, he didn't look so happy anymore.

"Secret?" Cyborg asked.

Sin grimaced. "Yes, Charion and I were trying to keep the rest of our kind from finding out about Raven's unique blood. As I told you all before, her blood is rare and you know what would come of it if one them drank her blood," Sin informed them. "Robin's walking proof of that."

"Shit, you mean that now we've got more than just Stefan to deal with?" Robin inquired.

"Precisely..." Sin confirmed. "I have no idea how many will come, but I know those that do come will either be very foolish, or strong."

"Worry about the strong ones," Lynx added in a rare show of seriousness. "As strong as you are, there are vampires older and stronger than you are and they're not nearly as nice as you and Sin."

"Crap, things just seemed to be getting worse for us everyday," Cyborg groaned.

"You should look on the bright side!" Lynx said.

"What bright side?" Cyborg asked.

"I'm here!" Lynx said, standing up and doing a striking pose on one foot on top of the couch.

"And what good can you do against vampires, besides turn furry," Speedy grunted, crossing his arms over his chest.

In flash, Lynx was up in Speedy's face with a hand raised up to his face. Speedy's eyes bulged out from behind his mask as what was once Lynx's hand was now a claw.

"I'm faster than most average Nosferatu and they can't sense me like they can you," Lynx spoke in a deadly tone that seemed surprising coming from such a cheery person like him.

"Yes, Lynx is not like other wereleopards, he can hide his aura from us and any other creature with the same abilities as us," Sin added.

"Ok, I'm impressed," Speedy remarked.

"Yeah...I can't feel anything from him, if I didn't believe my eyes, I'd say he wasn't even really there," Robin admitted.

Lynx changed his hand back and smiled proudly at them all. "Yep! I'm a real handy guy to have around!"

"Pity, you still have the maturity of an eight year old," Sin snickered.

"Hey! I've help you out more times than you can count!" Lynx protested.

"I can count up pretty high, and you've only helped me about thirty-six times," Sin replied coolly.

"Still! Those were important thirty-six times!" Lynx said, with a pouting expression.

"Yes, yes, they were indeed," Sin said, waving a hand to him idly. "Anyway, I am going to assume you wish to stay here and help out, right?"

"Uh-huh," Lynx replied, nodding his head enthusiastically.

Sin smiled mischievously, as if to say to the young wereleopard, 'I know you just wanna be near Starfire.' The wereleopard's cheeks blushed and glanced quickly at the alien girl. Starfire found the way his ears dropt and moved with his expression were adorable.

Speedy was beginning to get hot under the collar. "I think he's just going to be another annoyance like Sin here," Speedy said, jabbing a thumb at the grinning Nosferatu.

"I don't give a crap about what you think string-boy!...I'm gonna have a Twinkie and enjoy it!" Lynx said, and then suddenly he pulled out some twinkies for his many pockets and tossed them in the air. "Twinkies for all!"

"Twinkies?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sin had his head hanging from his shoulder, covering his eyes with one hand. "Just ignore him when he does that, he has those outbursts just for attention."

"Crazy vampires and now crazy wereleopards," Speedy remarked with intense distaste. "Why is it that our Tower is a haven for these loonies?"

Lynx popped up in front of him and crammed a Twinkie in his mouth. "Here, use that damn mouth for something useful!"

Sin snickered a bit but stopped instantly when he heard Starfire laughing her head off.

' _Huh? She's laughing at that, too?'_ Sin thought. _'I've had to do some of my best tricks to get her to laugh, and she is almost busting a gut when Lynx shows up...'_

"I'm scared," Beast Boy said.

"Go run to your mommy, then," Cyborg commented.

"I don't have a mother anymore, you bastard," Beast Boy grumbled.

Cyborg had an ashamed expression on his face, as he knew what it was like to lose a mother. "Sorry, man."

"No foul," Beast Boy replied. "Not like you knew."

Meanwhile, Speedy was choking on the Twinkie, and feeling very humiliated that it was Starfire who was laughing at what Lynx did to him.

He finally spat out the Twinkie and glared at Lynx. "You little furball! I'm gonna neuter you for that!" Speedy threatened.

"Yeah," Lynx drawled. "Like you got the stones to neuter me."

"You little!" Speedy growled, reaching for his bow, but his hand only grabbed at empty air. "Huh?"

Lynx pulled out Speedy's bow from behind his shirt. "Looking for this?" he snickered.

"How did you-?" Speedy uttered.

"That's my secret, string-boy," Lynx said, throwing the bow back to Speedy.

Speedy examined his bow, making sure Lynx hadn't done anything to it in the short time he'd possessed it. Seeing that everything was in order, he put it away, grumbling under his breath about how the Tower has become a freak show.

"Technically, we're all what 'normal' humans would call freaks," Cyborg remarked. "I'm half machine. Beast Boy is a green-skinned shape-shifter. Starfire's from another planet. Raven's half demon. Robin and Sin are vampires. Lynx is a wereleopard. So, yeah, you're pretty much the only 'normal' one here."

"Whoa, I didn't mean you guys," Speedy said quickly.

"Oh, then what makes us any different from Sin and Lynx?" Raven asked.

"Ha! Ha! Busted!" Lynx said.

"Whatever..." Speedy murmured and walked off to blow some steam in the training room.

The moment Speedy left the room; Lynx suddenly zoomed over to Starfire. "So, what's your name, cutie?"

"I am Starfire," the Tamaranean said while blushing slightly.

"That's a very lovely name. I haven't properly introduced myself. My name's Lynx Silvermein, your average, every day wereleopard," Lynx replied, smiling happily at her.

"It is very pleasant to meet you again, Lynx Silvermein," Starfire said, smiling happily as well.

Robin instantly noticed the chemistry between Starfire and Lynx.

' _Is it just me or do I see a future for those two?'_ Robin thought. Somehow, he figured that Sin would spot the chemistry between the two and try to maneuver them into an ideal position to get together, much like he had done for him and Raven before.

' _You're starting to figure me out, Robin,'_ Sin said in his mind.

' _Wait...but you can't do that? What about Speedy?'_ Robin asked.

' _I originally planned on having him as her main support after I changed you, but I quickly found that he isn't suited for the job,'_ Sin replied. _'Why do you think I've been treating her so nicely? I've been getting her loose and more open with our kind and similar ones like us, because I figured she would find someone better.'_

' _You mean, you were planning this the whole time!?'_ Robin said in astonishment.

' _Would it satisfy you if I said "_ yes _"?'_ Sin asked with a note of amusement in his mental "voice."

Robin shook his head; he should have known the elder vampire was plotting everything, even being a matchmaker.

' _I must leave for now, after the news Lynx just gave us, I need to check up on my friend,'_ Sin said _. 'Keep an eye on Lynx for me, he's a bigger handful than Beast Boy and Cyborg combined.'_

' _Sure,'_ Robin answered.

Sin vanished into the shadows. When he left, Robin glanced back over at Lynx and saw he was still making Starfire laugh and smile. It struck Robin that this was the first time he really heard Starfire laughing so carefree like she used to before Sin came into their lives. He smiled softly to himself. Perhaps Sin was right. Perhaps Lynx was far better for Starfire than Speedy ever could be, considering the teen archer was too absorbed in his personal prejudices toward the dark side of the supernatural. Then again, this could make things worse, if Speedy sees Lynx flirting with Starfire, he would most likely go over the deep end and go postal on them all. Oh, well, he'd find a way to keep things from getting out of control, that is if Sin hadn't already thought up a way.

"Hey, Starfire, do you like to dance?" Lynx asked her.

"Yes, I enjoy dancing very much," Starfire replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm new in town, I was wondering if you knew a good nightclub, seeing how shapely your feature is, I just assumed you dance a lot," Lynx replied, winking at her.

Starfire blushed from Lynx's compliment. "There is one place I know," she said, silently hoping Sin wouldn't mind if she went there.

"Alright! Let's party!" Lynx beamed and taking her by the hand, he and a still blushing Starfire left the tower.

But just as they walked out of the tower, a shadowy figure descended from the sky in front of them. It was Blackfire, and yet not Blackfire. Specifically, she was not dressed in her usual outfit of a black top, skirt, and boots over silver armor. Instead, it was a black Elizabethan corset, leather skirt, and knee-high boots over a sheer mesh bodysuit. Just slightly more disconcerting was the fact that the skin left exposed by her new outfit was an unearthly shade of golden-bronze, even for her people.

"S-Sister! Is that you?" Starfire asked in utter shock.

"Sister?" Blackfire asked with a cold sneer. "I don't have a sister."

"W-what do you mean?" Starfire said, feeling her heart being torn from that statement. "I know banishing you from our home world of a mistake, but I saw no better action after what you try to do to our people."

"What are you talking about?" Blackfire asked.

"Starfire...something's not right with her, I...I smell something dangerous about her. She smells like a Nosferatu," Lynx warned, trying to lead her back into the Tower.

"You mean she has become like Robin and Sin?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean," Lynx confirmed, baring his fangs at Blackfire, his cat ears were laid down flat against his skull, his tail was bristled up and flipping from side to side.

"Down, kitty," Blackfire mocked.

"Blackfire, why are you here? Why don't you remember who I am?" Starfire demanded

"All I remember of you is how much I hate you," Blackfire replied coldly. Her formerly amethyst, now crimson, eyes glowed malevolently. "And I kill what I hate."

She charged up her starbolts, but even they had taken on a change. While they were still purple on the outside, at the core, they here blood red. With a primal roar, Blackfire fired her hellish starbolts at them. Starfire and Lynx quickly dodged the starbolts. When they got a chance to observe the damage, they were horrified that entire sections of ground had been simply vaporized.

"Damn, getting hit by one of those could really fuck up your day," Lynx said.

Starfire charged her emerald starbolts and fired them at her now-vampiric sister. Unfortunately for her, Blackfire dodged them all with unnatural speed.

"This does not look good..." Starfire said.

"No, it's about to get worse!" Blackfire said, disappearing from sight.

Starfire and Lynx looked around the area for any signs of her, but they didn't see anything. Starfire had just looked back up when a purple-reddish glowing fist punched her in the gut, sending her crashing into the Tower's front doors.

"Starfi-!" Lynx tried to call out before a boot slammed into the side of his head, knocking him to the ground.

"Stay got of this, kitty. I'm only after her and the other's living here. Get in my way and I'll kill you along with them," Blackfire said.

Blackfire smirked and kicked him in the side for good measures and returned her attention to the redhead regaining consciousness.

"Now where was I? Oh, yes, burning away you and this tower from the face of this planet!" Blackfire said, charging up a starbolt.

Starfire was trying to get back up, but she started coughing up blood.

"Aww, does it hurt? Don't worry, my sweet little look-a-like, it'll all end soon," Blackfire said with a sinisterly sweet voice.

Before she came near Starfire, a beam of dark purple energy blasted on top of her.

Blackfire screamed as she flung up her arms to protect herself from the beam, her forearms started burning from the harmful energy. She finally had to float away to get out of the beams path.

Robin floated down in front of Starfire, his Evil Eye burning with negative energy. "Don't you dare hurt Starfire," he snarled.

"If it isn't Death Robin, I was wondering where you were at, you're the first one I have to kill for my master," Blackfire said, her forearms already healing.

"Since when did you have a master? And since we're on the subject, who is your master?" Robin asked, positioning himself in a fighting stance.

"All you need to know is that he's a longtime enemy of your maker," Blackfire replied.

"In other words, Stefan was the one who did this to you. What did you do to make him change you into a Nosferatu, Blackfire? What did you promise me if he gave you your new powers?" Robin said coldly.

Robin's words confused her, she'd didn't' know why she was the way she was now, only that she woke up to this existence and to carry out her master's wishes. What did she do to become this way, her mind wouldn't let her remember anything, she tried hard to bring up some memory, but all she found was a cold and empty void. Her mind suddenly started causing her pain; it felt like someone was stabbing her head with burning hot spikes. She collapsed to her knees, screaming in agony from the unrelenting pain.

"Blackfire!" Starfire cried, and forgetting that the Tamaranean Nosferatu was her enemy, ran to her.

"Make it stop! Someone make it stop!" Blackfire screamed.

"Do not fear, my sister, I'm here!" Starfire said, kneeling down to her sister. "Please, let me help you."

Blackfire managed to look at her sister with confusion. "Why do you want to help me?"

Starfire smiled down to her. "You are my sister, that is what family is there for, to help and care for when you are in need."

Blackfire felt something stir in her, but she couldn't understand what this feeling was. Before she could start to figure out this new feeling, a clod wave slammed into her.

' _Don't listen to her, my child. She is your enemy, you must kill her, now!'_ Stefan said mentally to her.

At that moment, the cloud of hatred that the twisted Nosferatu had created in Blackfire's mind to keep her bound to him took hold once again. _'Yes . . . I must kill her . . .'_

The Tamaranean Nosferatu glared up at Starfire with burning, hellish eyes and blasted her with her eyebeams.

"Star!" Robin and Lynx shouted at the same time.

Starfire fell ten feet away from Blackfire, smoke rising from her body as she landed onto the rocky pavement.

Robin's Evil Eye blazed with anger, a line of blood crept down the corner of his eye. "You're going to pay for that!"

Blackfire made no comment, her damaged mind had fallen into a blinding rage, and she rushed up at Robin, slamming her knee into his face, breaking his nose. She twirled in the air and kicked Lynx in the face as well.

Robin managed to stay on his feet, where's Lynx was rolling off the side of a rocky cliff.

"Two down...one to go," Blackfire smirked, charging up her starbolts.

"You mean, seven more, don't you?" a dark monotone voice spoke up as a bird-like entity appeared next to Robin.

Raven stepped out of her soulself as Cyborg, Beast Boy; Speedy, Hot Spot, and Wildebeest came rushing out of the tower.

"Hmph, this just saves me time in having to come hunt you down one by one," Blackfire said.

Speedy readied an arrow. "You're not getting away with this, not after what you just did to Starfire!"

"And where were you when she needed her knight in shining armor to protect her, huh? Off moping and groaning in a small corner?" Blackfire taunted, smirking cruelly at him.

Despite himself, Robin smirked. As much as he valued Speedy as a friend, the pompous bastard definitely walked into that one.

"Damn bitch!" Speedy cursed and let an arrow fly.

Blackfire blasted the arrow out of the air with a starbolt. "You can't beat any of us with those pathetic arrows. Why are you still persisting on trying to fight us with them," Blackfire mocked, before shooting four starbolts at him. With a swift liquid motion, Speedy pulled out four arrows and shoot them at the starbolts, causing them to explode in midair.

"Got to use what you're good at," Speedy replied.

Raven bit her lip from making a comment at what he said, it was better to let him be happy with himself.

"Try this one on for size, big boy!" Blackfire said, disappearing out of sight again.

"Shit..." Speedy cursed.

Blackfire reappeared next to him and yanked his bow out of his hands and broke it over his head.

She threw the remaining piece she had in her hand at Wildebeest's face, striking in the middle of his forehead, stunning him. She took the advantage and flew up to him and picked him up over her, and then she slammed him down on top of Hot Spot, knocking them both out. Cyborg shifted his right arm into cannon mode and then charged up his Sonic Cannon to full power. He'd seen the power of a Nosferatu enough times to know that one did not play with dark creatures that strong. But before he could fire at her, a starbolt struck the barrel of his cannon, causing it to backfire on him. He screamed as his own circuitry shorted him out, forcing him to shutdown and reboot.

Beast Boy morphed into a raptor and jumped on top of her. Unfortunately for him, Blackfire simply kicked him off of her. When he morphed back to his human form, Blackfire had already gotten back up and grabbed his ankle. She spun him around and tossed him at Raven faster than the empath could use her powers to catch him, or protect herself for that matter.

"Just me and you, little birdie," Blackfire cooed.

Her smile faded off her face when she saw Robin's aura blazing the same color as his Evil Eye.

"Touch Raven and die," he snarled.

"Make up your mind, wonder boy, Raven or the redhead. You can't really care for them both that much, can you?" Blackfire teased.

"What would a person like you know about kindness? You never give it to anyone, except for yourself!" Robin growled.

"Blah, blah, are you done with your heartwarming speech?" Blackfire said curtly.

"The time for speeches is over," Robin stated just as curtly. "However, there's always a time for death."

"A man after my own heart!" Blackfire said with a vicious smile as she charged up her eyebeams.

"Yeah, I'm after your heart, once I rip it out of your ribcage!" Robin replied, his Evil Eye glowing darker.

"Sorry, from what I've heard, I don't have a heart, but you can have this instead!" Blackfire said, shooting her eyebeams at him.

Robin let loose a huge blast from his Evil Eye, the beams made contact and it was now a struggle of whose beam was the strongest. It might have been a stand still, if Blackfire hadn't fired two starbolts at him, striking in the chest and knocking his concentration off and allowing her eyebeams to blast him, but she didn't let up, she kept bombarding him with dozens of starbolts. When the smoke cleared, Robin was completely knocked out and smoking, half of his clothes and skin was burnt away.

"Hmph, you're not a tough as you though, huh, Robin," Blackfire said, stalking past him to Starfire. She stood over the fallen alien girl, smiling evilly, when she reached down and grabbed her collar and lifting her slightly up to her. "You should have killed me when you had the chance instead of showing me kindness." She bared her fangs and inched her face to Starfire's neck. "Kindness will only gets you killed."

Blackfire descended her fangs to her neck, anticipating the taste of her blood when a roar came up from behind her. She turned around just in time to see a huge silver leopard slam into her. The force of the blow made her let go of Starfire and land on the ground, hard. She was so shocked; she hadn't sensed this leopard sneaking up at her. In fact, she still couldn't sense it, it was like it wasn't really there, but her eyes and the feel of the claws slashing at her told her it was real. The leopard was huge from normal leopards, it was about twice the size of one, and it had white spots in its silver fur instead of black ones. If it hadn't been for her combine alien strength and her new vampiric one, she'd have had a difficult time keeping the leopard's teeth from sinking into her neck.

She got a foot under it and kicked it off her. The leopard twirled in the air with the acrobatic skills all cats were known to have and landed on its paws. It growled at her, baring long, sharp looking fangs at her. The leopard's golden eyes never once blinked at her, only staring at her with deadly fury. Blackfire might have not taken this creature seriously, if not for the wounds it inflicted on her. Where the leopard clawed her up, she was having a hard time getting them to heal quickly; this was not an ordinary beast.

"So, this is what you really are, kitty," Blackfire said at Lynx. "Sorry, I'm not up to a game of cat and mouse, not when you seem to think that I'm the mouse."

Lynx's only response was to growl louder at her. She smirked at him and charged up two starbolts, but before she could through them at her, a hand grabbed her wrist.

"It's not nice to hurt family and there friends, then again, how can Stefan's bloody marionette know any better," Sin said.

Blackfire didn't answer back. She turned her wrist in his hand and brought up her other hand and blasted his face with both starbolts. When he let go of her hand, she began punching and kicking his head, pleased when she kept hearing the sound of bone cracking and snapping. She laughed in mad glee while she continued to pound Sin's head in, but it quickly died down when Sin caught both her wrists. The deformed remains of his head began to laugh psychotically as it started to heal itself.

"You're strong, even for a young Nosferatu, but it takes more than strength when fighting the likes of me!" Sin said.

Blackfire tried to free her hands, but this time Sin had an iron lock grip on her. She was readying to fire her eye beams at him, but she halted when Sin's hands started to melt into darkness. The darkness traveled up his arms and over his face, where there once was pale flesh, fanged mouths began to appear out of the darkness.

"Y-you can't scare me, you old relic! You're only trying to intimate me, so you won't have to fight me head on, you weakling!" Blackfire taunted, trying to free her hands from the creeping darkness on her hands.

"Haven't you ever heard of earth snakes, my dear? I'll give you a brief explanation; they wait silently, waiting for the perfect time….to ssssssstrike!" Sin hissed. He flicked out a forked tongue like a snake as his head changed into a giant black snake's head.

Blackfire screamed in pure terror. She looked at his chest and saw that the darkness was reaching out to her in the form of snakes. Sin's hands had changed into snakes and were slithering down her arms, hissing and biting into her skin. Her screams rose up to a high pitch shriek as the snakes continued to descend on her and bite at her flesh. Try with all her might; she couldn't break free from the darkness wrapped around her wrists. Her damaged mind couldn't work out a way to get away from this horror. It only told her that she was now facing a deadlier predator than herself, a predator that could easily end her life at any moment. Her instincts kicked in and triggered something inside of her.

Whatever it was started making her body dissolve into a light purple mist. Soon her flesh was free from the snakes biting her and from the darkness holding her, with a roaring shriek, she floated away from the nightmare that was still striking at her and glided over the city, back to the safety of her master. When the last vapor of the mist disappeared over the city, Sin reformed himself back to his human form and walked over to Robin.

All the others slowly began to regain consciousness, except for Robin and Starfire. Lynx had walked over to Starfire and was licking her face, trying to get her to wake up. He nudged her head with his nose. Starfire moaned painfully as she slowly woke up. Seeing that see was okay, Lynx's ears perked up, and he sat down next to her, purring lightly. Sin grinned at the scene, Lynx had only just met her and already he's treating her like a member of his pard. No doubt now in his mind that Lynx would be the right one for her. He would muse over them later. Right now, he had to see if Robin was fine.

He raised Robin gently up by his sliding his hand behind his neck and took note of the burn marks on Robin's exposed skin. Sin dug his fingernails in his palm and brought it up to Robin's lips. He opened the mouth enough for his blood to pour down his throat. Robin slowly stirred and clamped his lips over the bleeding hand, licking and sucking lightly on the wound. His burns began to fade away as Sin's powerful blood worked fast in his system.

Raven got to her feet and ran over to Robin. "Is he alright?!"

"He will be fine, just needs some blood," Sin replied.

Raven sighed in relief and kneeled down on her knees next to Robin, stroking his hair with her right hand. She looked up at Sin. "Was that really Blackfire?"

"Yes and no…" Sin replied. "Stefan must have changed her, I don't know how he got a hold of her, but he did more than change her. There wasn't a single amount of will thought in her mind, not even my soul scanning could break in and find her real mind. He erased her mind of everything from her past to her free will. She's nothing more than a killing doll for Stefan now."

"That's inhuman!" Raven said.

"No, that's Stefan. He's so absorbed in his thirst for power, that he has become truly a monster…" Sin said with sadness in his voice. "He's changed so much, I don't even recognize him anymore…"

Raven couldn't imagine why but it hurt Sin when he said those words, not after all the things Stefan has done to them. But the look in Sin's eyes made her want to comfort him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft expression. Sin looked at her when he felt her hand, he smiled weakly and looked back at Robin.

"He wasn't always like this, he was so gentle. He would never do the things he is trying to accomplish now," Sin said. "But he gave into his more than his beast, he let his thirst for power turn him into this heartless monster…"

"Do you think you'll be able to still fight him?" Raven asked.

"Oh, that's not going to be a problem. He's not the same Stefan I once knew, so I'll have no hesitation in fighting him, only another bitter sorrow added to list of painful memories," Sin replied bitterly.

Raven couldn't find any thing to say that might give him some relief from all the guilt he apparently had in his long existence. She only hugged him to let him know she was there to give him the love and comfort he hardly got in the life style he lived. He sighed, as if some weigh had been lifted form his shoulders and leaned into her warm embrace. Robin soon recovered and saw the heart-moving scene before him and wrapped his arms around them both. The others slowly circled around the trio, looking in awe at the affection they were giving each other, even Speedy, who had ran over to check on Starfire, found the scene touching. He was so worried for Starfire, though, that he didn't take note of the large leopard next to her. He rose her up gently, holding her close to him.

"W-Where is Blackfire?" Starfire said weakly, her eyes still looking out of focus.

"She's gone…Sin and Lynx were able to beat her," Speedy replied.

It was then that the realization of what her sister had become hit her at full force. Tears began building up in her eyes and rolled down her face. Each tear held so much pain in them, that they burned her face like white hot flames, but the pain in her heart ached more than any tear could hope to expel from her soul. All she could do now was weep for what has been done to her sister. She pulled herself closer to Speedy, finding some comfort in his arms, as she kept repeating her sister's name.

Lynx curled up against her legs, trying to make her feel safe and comfortable, but the sparkle in his golden eyes died a little at seeing this angelic creature cry with such sorrow. He vowed that if there was any way to take away all her pain, he'd do it in a heart beat and more. No one like Starfire should have to experience this level of sorrow, it was a crime that he would rectified if nothing more than to see her smile like she did when he first laid eyes on her.

Far beyond the city, back at Stefan's mansion, Blackfire's mist-like form swirled in through the chimney. As the mist dispersed, Blackfire was found on the ground, holding herself and shaking all over. She was still feeling the terror Sin inflicted on her. She tried to push away the fear, but she could still feel that creeping darkness, the fangs as they dug their way into her flesh. Try as she might, the feeling wouldn't go away. She heard a soft ruffle of cloth next to her when he looked up, she saw Stefan looking down on her.

"I-I…failed, master," Blackfire whimpered.

Stefan kneeled down to her, but he didn't look disappointed with her. On the contrary, he looked rather pleased.

"You did excellent, my child," Stefan said, stroking her hair. "I never expected you to beat Sin, he's too strong for a Nosferatu like you to fight, but in making you going to the tower to fight them did prove a point. They are weak without Sin. And once he is out of the way, they will crumble and this city will become the focus point of my kingdom." He sat her up and sliced open his right palm and held it up to her face. "Drink, you have performed wonderfully, my servant."

Blackfire lapped up the offered blood like a dog getting a treat from its master, sadly, that was the case here. She was his attack dog, and a very vicious one at that, but like all wild animals, this one could be tamed by his will. He was content with how she performed on the stage with him guiding her with the strings he metaphysically placed on his bloody marionette, as Sin so eloquently put it. He stroked her hair as a person admiring a beautiful object, with care and awe. She will be a useful tool indeed for him and will be but another piece to his rise to power.

"Soon, soon this world and all its inhabitants will bow to me, their rightful ruler," Stefan said. "And you will be my instrument of death for any who appose me."

The sound of lapping blood was soon drowned out by the chilling laughter, echoing throughout the decrypted mansion.

A/N: I am so SO sorry I took so long to update this story, but I do have another life besides writing fanfics. I have things to accomplish just as anybody else reading this fanfic. On a more personal note, I don't appreciate being threatened to hurry up and get the next installment out. To the person reading this who sent me that e-mail, you know who you are, I just want to say that threatening me is a very bad health plan. You would be wise to not try and hunt me down, you just never know if it ends with you being the hunted. And if you did try anything to me, I won't be able to continue writing this story and you'll have more on your plate than you can handle with all the devoted readers who look forward to my updates. Anyway, enough of unpleasantries, back to the more positive stuff. Thank you all for waiting so patiently with me and I promise not to take so long with the next chapter. Till then...

Cya.


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, only Sin, Lynx, and Stefan. All ownership of lyrics and theme from _The Phantom and the Opera_ are the rightful property of Andrew Lloyd Webber.

A/N: Greetings, everyone. I want to inform everyone again that I don't not plan to quit writing any of my stories, only that I just can't seem to get into the mood for writing Teen Titans: Inferno. I have it plotted; I just can't focus on it. I will try my best to get that one updated when I can. I also like to mention that I am so very thrilled with the numbers my reviews I have received for this story alone. I wish to thank all my loyal readers for there patience and taking time to send me reviews. Thank you all. Oh, and just in case anyone was wondering about the Twinkie thing in the last chapter, I got that idea after watching some Foamy cartoons on .

To The Violet Raven: No, you aren't the one that threatened me, the person who did e-mailed me personally, but thankfully, he saw his error and replied back to me, saying he was sorry.

To evilsangle: No, the only blood I've ever tasted me my life is my own, when I got a cut or something in that fashion. I also like to say thanks for that…'interesting' review you sent me, particularly the one for 'Spin the Bottle' I wasn't too sure how to react when I received them, but I know you had good humor intended with them. Thank you again and can't wait to receive another review from you.

To ghncreate aka Jynx: Yes, thanks to you, my story has reached up and past 700. I've already talked to you about the drawings you sent me, so I'll just say thank you again for taking the time to do them. And I'll talk with you next time I'm on AIM.

To Blackstar Ravenwing: Thank you for your concern with my time through college, it has been quite difficult to stay ahead and work on these stories, but I'm managing. Oh, and sorry for not replying to you, I hardly have time to send e-mails and such. You're better off contacting me on AIM. But I will send you the information you have asked for soon, if I haven't done so already.

 **Red Masque**

Several days had gone by since the appearance of Blackfire. The Titans had expected another return visit from Starfire's vampiric sister, but she never showed up. It had affected the team greatly from that defeat, that they all had been defeated, by Sin's standards, a weakling, a newborn Nosferatu. If they got this pummeled by just a newly created vampire, what chances did they have against the older vampires. As it was if Sin hadn't returned in time, they'd have all been killed. Although, Sin had told them that the reason Blackfire was so strong was for her alien strength, so it wasn't surprising that she became twice as strong turning into a vampire. But out of all of them the most grieved with all this was Starfire. Her sister was now a Nosferatu, but not like Robin…she was a real monster. And if that wasn't bad, it was that Blackfire didn't remember her anymore, her own sister. She had spent most of her time by herself, locked away in her room since the horrible fight. She wouldn't come out, except to get something to eat, then she'd go right back to her room. This behavior freaked out even Sin, because to him, Starfire was starting to turn into another Raven. He wondered how long it would be before she started wearing black and had that emotionless look on her face.

Lynx was acting oddly himself; he would sometimes find the wereleopard roaming the hallways, checking on to see if Starfire was all right. He didn't like how all of them were brooding so depressively all about the tower. Robin had been training himself almost nonstop since his fight with Blackfire. He only kept saying he had to get stronger, which was fine by Sin, but he didn't like how Robin was pushing himself. Almost to the point of exhaustion. If he hadn't stayed with Robin to feed him, he'd have used up his blood supply and had gone wild with bloodlust. Raven hadn't changed much, only growing concern for Robin. Cyborg and Beast boy didn't even care enough when they played their games to win. It was an unexpected when he heard that Hot Spot and Wildebeest decided to go help out Titan East, but he soon found out that Bumblebee needed Speedy back. The two decided to take his place, letting him stay with them to help the other Titans out. It was admirable of them to do that for him, but the elder Nosferatu wished that Speedy would go back to the Titan East. From all the past experience since he blooded Robin, those two were handier than the archer.

Of course, this was from his own opinion. He never liked Speedy the moment the laid eyes on him, and because he was a good judge of character. Everything about him rubbed him the wrong way, from the way he glared at the elder Nosferatu, to just how he shifted constantly while he was present. These weren't good signs and he was going to give Speedy a serious attitude adjustment if the young archer didn't get a hold of his hatred for him. Oh, he knew Speedy hated him, mainly for being what he was, but also for thinking he was corrupting them all. Maybe he was? He couldn't tell anymore. He has lived like this for so long, he couldn't tell if it was his nature making him do it, or what shard of humanity that survived in him. Let Speedy think what he wanted, none of it matter to him, only the well-being of his two children and their friends. That's all that mattered to him. He had to do something and do it soon!

But what?

This had been bugging him for a good few nights. It usually wasn't hard for him to figure out a way to fix problems like these, but this one stumped him greatly. He would seat himself upon the roof of the tower, lying there and planning out what could be done. Of course, every idea he had didn't come out the way he wanted it to. He'd end up growling and cursing a bit by the end of the night. Maybe he was thinking to hard? That probably was it, he should just let well enough alone and let it work itself out…but that wasn't his style. He finally gave up after brooding most of the night away, again. It got so boring for him now. He started humming a song he had grown fond of a while back, then it hit him, just as he was coming to the last verse of the song. He smiled and began crackling as he flew up to his feet with supernatural grace and crackled some more.

"So simple! Why didn't it occur to me before?!" Sin said, slapping his forehead and laughing more.

Coming out of the doorway at this moment was Raven. She had come up here to check on Sin, but now she was worried as her vampiric father was laughing madly.

"Uh…Did you finally crack or something?" Raven asked.

Sin wheeled around to face her. "Nope, just musing over an idea."

Raven frowned, getting more worried. "What kind of idea?"

"You will find out soon…" Sin replied, grinning at her. "…But there's one thing I need to know."

"Yeah?" Raven asked.

Sin walked up to her and circled around her. "What size are you?" Followed by a slap in the face.

"Sin!" Raven shouted, blushing red.

Sin rubbed where she struck him and chuckling amusedly. "I didn't mean any offense, my dear. I just need to know your dress size, that's all."

"Oh, well, that's different…I guess," Raven said, still slightly perturbed at him. "But why do you need to know my dress size?"

"Because you can't wear that outfit to the ball," Sin replied causally, taking her hand and leading her into a dance.

"A ball?" Raven echoed. "But…ah, never mind." She figured he'd explain it to her in full later, so why bother when he gets like this.

As they were dancing, Robin came out of the doorway. "What's the happy occasion?"

"Ah, Robin! I'm glad you're here, too!" Sin said, halting and leading Raven with him to Robin.

"We have much to do!"

"Huh?" Robin stood dumbfounded before his sire.

"I'll explain to you at the club. Come, we must hurry!" Sin said, resting his hand on his shoulder and teleporting them to the club.

The moment they walked out of the shadows, Sin stormed off to the middle of the club. "Listen, everyone!"

Everyone in the club turned to look at Sin, wondering what he had to say.

"We're closing down for the week," Sin said plainly, raising a hand to keep everyone silent. "We are going to prepare something special for our city's heroes."

A soft rumbling rose up from everyone, but they immediately started putting everything they were setting up away.

"Farther details will be giving you later on tonight," Sin said, walking off to the back of the club. He looked over his shoulder at Robin and Raven. "Follow me. We need to get you two sized and fitted."

The two silently followed Sin to the back of the club, both wondering where Sin was leading them. This was their first time ever going into the back of Sin's club. He led them to a hallway, but as they came halfway, he stopped right in the middle of it.

"Is something the matter, Sin?" Robin asked.

"Nothings wrong, Robin," Sin replied. "Just that I must ask you two to not tell anyone what you will be seeing and to keep this location a secret."

"On my honor as a Titan," Robin replied gravely. "And my honor as a Nosferatu."

"Ditto . . . only without the Nosferatu part," Raven added.

Sin smiled at that. "Good, then here we go." He stomped three times on the floor and a passageway in the floor opened up before him, revealing a stone stairway. He didn't waste any time with watching the two Titans amazed expressions; he went down the dreary stairs, leading to who knows where.

"You think it's wise to go down there?" Robin asked Raven.

"Since when have we been doing anything wise since Sin came into our lives?" Raven retorted.

"Good point," Robin said, and together they walked down the stairs.

The walk down the stairs seemed to take quite a while. Robin wasn't sure how long they've been walking, but it was taking its toll on him walking down these stairs. Just when he thought it couldn't be longer, the stairs began to spiral around.

"Why is this taking so long?" Robin asked.

"Why, getting tired already, Robin?" Sin teased.

"No," Robin answered.

Sin chuckled. "We will be there soon."

"Why the long staircase, Sin?" Raven asked. "Doesn't it seem kinda lame to have such a long staircase?"

"Tell me, Raven. If you couldn't fly and had to walk all these steps down, would you still have the energy to deal with what lays at the end of them?" Sin asked. "And if you did and tried to run, would you be able to escape back up?"

"I probably would be, I'm getting sick and tired of these stairs," Raven replied, showing her distaste plainly with her demeanor.

"It was purposely done so to tire out any invaders and give me time to prepare for their arrival," Sin said, smiling evilly.

While they were talking, Robin was seriously contemplating jumping off the stairs and just plunging down the spiral until he reached the bottom. Then again, he mused, impatience was a detective's worst enemy. Batman had long ago drummed that tenet into his head.

Sin must have picked that thought up from Robin, because he turned to him. "You're right. I forgot why I never take the stairs anymore, it takes too bloody long!" He then walked over to the edge of the stairs and looked back at them. "Meet you at the bottom!" he then jumped off, freefall down the dark-like abyss.

Robin and Raven dove after him, Raven actually flying and Robin simply plummeting. They didn't know how long they fell down the staircase shaft, only when they finally saw the bottom, Robin flipped in the air and began to float slowly to the ground, as Raven did, and landed silently at the bottom. Sin was waiting for them by a huge stone door. The door was fifteen feet in height and about roughly eight feet in width. On the door was a symbol of a panther or some great cat with two snakes wrapped around its neck and forming an S pattern above it with their fangs bare. They looked up at the door with awe in their eyes, although it was easier to see in Raven's eyes because she wasn't wearing sunglasses.

"What is this?" Raven asked.

"My sanctuary," Sin replied, but he seemed a bit hesitant. "I've never allowed anyone in it..."

"If you don't want us to go in there, it's okay," Robin said. "We can just go back to the tower and get whatever your planning done there."

"No," Sin immediately said. "I need you two here for it...I just am quite obsessed with keeping my solace. Much like you, Raven."

The two Titans weren't sure how to feel about this. Sure they were excited about seeing where Sin spends his days and what it was like, but they were worried about what they would see. And they were about to find out as Sin sliced open his index finger with his fang. He placed the bleeding digit on the stone door and the glyph upon it instantly shined bright red, and it slowly began to shift into the wall.

"No one can get these doors open," Sin said. "The glyph on it will only let pass the one that has used his or her own blood to create it."

"So in order to get this door open you have to use your blood on it?" Raven deduced.

"Precisely," Sin confirmed, licking his bloody finger.

The door disappeared into the wall, but beyond that was darkness. Raven couldn't make out much, even with her demon blood; her night vision wasn't good enough to see through the thick veil of blackness. But Robin could make out what lay ahead once he removed his sunglasses. He saw a huge chamber, bigger than the any room in Titans Tower as they entered the lair. When they stepped in candles suddenly lit to life, illuminating it and revealing wonders. Raven's eyes wondered from the coffin and stared in awe at right side of the lair. All along the wall were shelves of books. She floated over to them and gazed upon all the ancient texts. Robin followed Sin over to the far side of the room from the door. He looked around and was amazed at all the old decorations Sin had set up. It seemed he had a liking to medieval times, because the walls and furniture reminded him of that time.

Lines of weapons decorated the wall Sin was heading for. Robin stopped following Sin and analyzed the collection. He noted that most of the weapons he had collected were swords and in the middle of it all was the sword Robin seen Sin use. The strange sword was lying right between two stranger artifacts. He finally recognized they were two scarlet gauntlets shaped like demonic heads around the wrist and boned plates reached up to cover the forearm, the glove part were spiked claws. He might have been tempted to touch them if not for the red glow they were emitting.

"Ah, I see you found one of my greatest accomplishment," Sin said, walking over to him with a box.

"What are they?" Robin asked.

"Deimos and Phobos, the Gauntlets of Ares," Sin replied.

Robin stared at Sin in awe. "Ares, the Greek God of War?"

"His sons, actually," Sin said. "Funny fact, his sons had gotten a little rock happy and decided to cause some world wide disaster on their own by causing kingdoms to wage pointless wars. Unfortunately for them old daddy didn't appreciate them taking over his business. So…he had the two locked up in those gauntlets with a help of Hephaestus."

"Whoa, but how did you come across them?" Robin asked.

Sin chuckled. "I fought Ares a long time ago. He wanted me to make him the ultimate army for him, but I refused. In anger, he tried to kill me, but he didn't expect to fight someone like me."

"How did you beat him?" Robin wondered.

"I used his own ego against him; I didn't have to land a single blow on him. I made him get so furious that he blurted out his secret plan to overthrown Zeus and take over as ruler of the gods," Sin answered. "Least to say, Zeus wasn't happy with this and showed up. It was the first time I saw a god cower when Zeus appeared. He stopped Ares and punished him for his actions and as a reward for not aiding Ares and unintentionally helping out the gods, Zeus presented me with these gauntlets."

"Wow, what do they do?" Robin asked curiously.

Sin shrugged. "I haven't a clue, never put them on."

"What? Why not?" Robin asked.

"I never needed to, and there is a risk when using them," Sin replied. "Zeus warned me that if someone weak were to ever wear the gauntlets, they will drive the wearer completely mad before they met an agonizing end."

"But you're not weak, I've seen you fight, remember," Robin stated.

Sin smiled and patted Robin's shoulder. "I'm glad you believe so, but I'm not talking about strength of power. I'm talking about inner strength, I'm strong…but I don't tempt fate." He then turned and walked away from the gauntlets—just a little too quickly.

Robin didn't take this as a good sign, not at all. He hurried after Sin away from the eerie gauntlets. He took his mind off Sin's strange behavior by studying the rest of the lair. Across from the small library on the wall was a built-in fireplace, but not one Robin had ever seen built before. This one was tall enough for a grown person to stand inside it. Around it were two stone dragons snarling for eternality. Up above them all was a portrait; this portrait allured Robin the most. It was a portrait of a beautiful woman with sliver white hair. Her face was softly shaped but held a firm strength deep in it.

Her eyes gave way the sharp intelligence in those crimson orbs. The dress she was wearing looked to be made of black silk with a red velvet cape hanging over her right shoulder. His immediate thought was that she was truly beautiful. But then he began to wonder who this woman was and why did Sin have a picture of her over this weird fireplace. While Robin was studying the portrait, Sin was with Raven opening the box. He pulled out an old black dress and held it up to Raven, sizing her up with it. It looked worn and torn from the passage of time. The seams of it appeared ready to come apart.

"You're not seriously thinking I'm going to wear a dress, do you?" Raven asked testily.

"Quite," Sin replied, putting the dress back in the box. "After I've fix it up for you." He reached into the box and pulled out a measuring tape. "Now, hold still."

Raven reluctantly did so. Sin took all her measures and then called out to Robin. "If you're done gawking at my things, will you come here so I can take your measurements?"

Robin hurried over to Sin. "Sorry."

"It's fine, now stand up straight," Sin replied, beginning to take his measurements.

While he was, Robin asked, "Sin, who the lady in the portrait?"

Sin stopped the measuring tape for a second over his arm, then continued to the length of Robin's arm. "She…was my sire," his voice held both a powerful admiration and a depressing feel.

Raven glanced at the portrait and then back at the dress in the box. "Was that hers?"

Sin didn't look at her, but answered. "Yes…one of the very few things I saved of hers."

"She was very important to you, wasn't she?" Robin deduced.

"She was everything to me, my whole world," Sin replied, putting the tape away. "She was my first love…"

Robin nodded. "What happened to her?"

"She was killed by a traitor, the one person she had would have done anything for betrayed her for her own selfish ends," Sin replied with bitter hatred.

"It was a she?" Robin asked.

"Indeed…" Sin growled, looking very angry.

Raven quickly changed the topic. "You're sire was very beautiful, what was her name?"

Sin smiled warmly and glanced at the portrait. "Lania, my dear Lady Lania…"

The two Titans stared in wonder that the elder Nosferatu. For the first time they've known him, they saw a wounded side of him. He looked at the portrait with raw emotions, Raven couldn't help but think of Sin as a lost little boy at the way he was looking at the woman in the portrait. He seemed so fragile at that moment. Then so suddenly, Sin snapped his head back at them with that devilish mask he wore. She finally understood that look he had, it was much like how she herself acted, wearing an emotionless mask to hide her pain and feelings behind. Her brooding was interrupted when Sin snapped the box closed.

"Hmm, you're almost a perfect fit, but I'll have to have the dress shorten some, so you're not tripping over it," Sin said. "That is, if you still want to?"

"I'd be more than happy to wear it…" Raven replied softly.

Sin glanced at her over his shoulder and smiled. His eyes alone told her he was very happy about it.

"So…what exactly is this all about, anyway?" Robin asked.

"I just thought you all could use a break from all the unfortunate events that have been happening lately," Sin replied. "All of you deserve something for all the hard work you've done."

"So, you're gonna have a party or something?" Raven asked.

"Party? That word doesn't give credit for what I have in store!" Sin replied.

"Then what is it?" Robin asked.

A black mask appeared in Sin's right hand and he put it on. "Why, a masquerade ball!"

The two just stared at him and sighed. For the rest of the night, he explained his plans to them and set out instructions for his people upstairs.

For the next week, none of the other Titans knew what Robin, Raven, or Sin were doing. They haven't showed up for that whole time, only a transmission from Robin on their T-coms telling them that they would be with Sin for a while. Speedy, like always, was arguing with the others that Sin was up to something. And like always they ignored him. But by the end of the week, they were beginning to worry for their friends. Their worries were put to a rest when someone came to the tower with an invitation to a masquerade ball at Crimson Desires tomorrow night. Starfire's spirit lifted a bit with this bit of news once they told her what a masquerade ball was.

"Oh, this is glorious!" Starfire exclaimed. "A ball of people dressing up with masks! This sounds exciting!"

"Yeah, and if Sin is throwing it, you know it's gonna be fun!" Lynx added.

"Things have been kinda dull around here lately," Cyborg said. "This would be a great way to shake things up some."

"Hey, I'm always up to partying!" Beast boy said.

On cue, Speedy had to burst their bubble. "We're not going, Starfire."

Starfire stared at him a disappointed look. "What? But why not? This sounds very enjoyable."

"If it's been done by Sin, you know he's got something planned and it's not for our benefit," Speedy replied curtly.

Lynx glared at him and then nudged Cyborg. "Exactly how far is the stick up his ass?"

"I don't know, but I think it's wedged up there tightly," Cyborg replied.

Speedy glared at them. "Say what you want, but if I recall, I'm still the leader the Titans, and I say, we're not going."

Cyborg crossed his arms over his chest and returned the glare. "Sorry, but a leader doesn't make decisions based on his own personal problems. You don't like Sin and you spit in his face every time he does something, man. And if it wasn't for Sin, we'd all be dead right now."

"Yeah, he's saved Robin when he was almost a goner, then he saved us when those freaky creatures from Stefan came knocking on our door. And if that isn't enough, he beat back Blackfire," Beast boy said.

Starfire's face fell at the mention of her sister. She quickly wiped away the tear from her eye and brought her face back up. "Yes…he has helped us out many times. I do not believe he means us any harm, if he did, he would not go threw all this trouble of acting like our friend."

"What about Terra?" Speedy snapped. "She acted like all yours friends, and she ended up stabbing you in the back."

Beast boy was suddenly up in Speedy's face. "Don't you dare talk about Terra that way."

"But it's true, isn't it?" Speedy stated.

Beast boy looked ready to punch him right then, but Lynx strolled up next to him and eased him back. "Hey, don't let the uptight bowman get to ya. That's what happens with guys that have trouble in bed."

Speedy glared angrily at the wereleopard. "What the fuck did you just say?"

"You heard me," Lynx replied coolly.

Speedy went to punch him, but a metallic hand clamped over his wrist.

"Cool it, man. We've had enough of you're crap with Sin, and I'm not going to let you take it out on us," Cyborg warned.

"Us? He just got here, and you think he's one of us!" Speedy shouted, glaring at Lynx, who was smiling widely at him.

"Yeah, Sin trusts him, that's good enough for me," Cyborg said, letting his wrist go. "As for you being leader, I think that was over when Robin could walk back out in the sun again."

"That's a lot of crap!" Speedy snarled. "You wanted me as your leader, and not once have you've listened to me since!"

"That was until we found out what a dick you really were," Beast boy replied.

"Fine! I don't care anymore!" Speedy yelled. "You all can go to this stupid ball, but Starfire and I aren't going, right, Star?"

"No…" Starfire said quietly.

He stared at her, hard. "What did you say?"

"I said, no," Starfire repeated a bit louder. "I love you, Speedy, but you do not make up my decisions for me. I…trust Sin, he and what he is scares me, but I only that's only because I don't fully understand his nature. But I know he cares for Robin and Raven. He will do anything for them, and that is enough for me to trust him."

Speedy looked like he was just betrayed. "But…But you can't be serious?"

"I am," Starfire stated firmly. "And if you persist on not allowing me to go to a ball that Sin has invited us to, then I see no point in continuing our relationship…" Another tear rolled down her cheek. "I will not be controlled, even if it is from the one I love…"

Everyone kept their eyes on Speedy, wondering how he would react. But he only stood there, looking dumbfounded.

"Star, you would really end what we have just because of that, would you?" Speedy asked hurtfully.

"…Yes," Starfire replied sadly.

He switched from Dumbfounded to angry. "Fine! Do what you want!" He stormed out of the living room.

They all relaxed and breathed again. Lynx most of all, he reattached his claws he drew and ran a hand through his hair. Starfire was close to breaking out in tears again. Only her own feeling of how unfair Speedy had been acting toward her dark friends kept her from shedding anymore. Lynx walked up to her, smiling all to happily.

"Let's not let the rest of this night turn sourer!" Lynx said cheerfully. "We've got a ball to prepare for! Don't worry about your boyfriend, he just needs time to get used to people like Sin and me."

His smile made her smile, because she couldn't happy but smile at his cheerful nature. "You are very kind to worry about how I feel."

"Think nothing of it, babe!" Lynx replied, smiling bigger. "I just can't stand to see beautiful women sad, not when I know can do something about it."

Starfire giggled. "Thank you, friend Lynx."

He put his hands behind his hand in a childish manner, blushing. "No prob!"

The Titans and Lynx worked on getting ready for the ball tomorrow night. Lynx proved to be very handy when it came to picking out costumes. He helped them pick out which what to wear for the ball, and even gave them some tips on how to fix themselves up nice for it. It was no surprise that he helped Starfire out the most with her costume. By the next day, they were all ready for the ball. Two of Sin's Limos came driving up to their Tower to pick them up and drive them to the club. Shockingly, Speedy had finally agreed to go with them, but he chose not to dress up—he would go as he was. They quickly arrived at the club; when they arrived, there were men formed in a lined up on a red carpet from the doors to the parked limos. One of the men opened up the door for them as they exited the vehicle. Beast boy was the first to come out, dressed in a black and green checkered jester outfit. With small gold bells on his three-pointed hat, on the tips of his shoes, and three acting as buttons down the front of his shirt. Cyborg came out next wearing a white toga with a golden headband.

Following behind him was Starfire in a purple velvet gown, with long dress gloves that reached up past her elbows and wearing a black mask. All her hair was curled up and pushed in the back by purple hairpins; making most of her curly hair fills out and wave behind her. Then came Lynx, dressed in a navy blue uniform with gold trimmings on his shoulders and his buttons were golden on the side of his uniform. His black riding boots stepped lightly as he joined the others outside. He gave Starfire a pleasant smile, as he brushed a stray lock of hair off his face, as he brushed a stray lock of hair off his face. Starfire returned the gesture with a bashful, yet beautiful smile. Lastly, came Speedy, looking as grouchy as ever. The marched down to the front door, where Chuck in a Tuxedo, a bit too stiff looking for him, waiting for them.

"Nice you see you again, Chuck," Lynx greeted.

"Yo, Lynx, Long time," Chuck replied. "You with them?"

Lynx nodded.

"Well, all right," Chuck said with a smile and opened the huge doors for them.

This time they were not bombarded by loud heavy metal and strobe lights. In there place was classic elegant music and candle light. The four pillars with the angelic figures had flames roaring out of their hands making all the golden tapestries glitter and sparkle. The entire place was filled with people in costumes and masks. Talking to friends and loved ones, seemingly having a good time. There were a few ballroom dancers on the dance floor, gracefully moving with their partners with the music. In addition, just as the Titans entered, the music switched. Trumpets roared to life and blasted a familiar melody.

 _Masquerade!  
Paper faces on parade ...  
Masquerade!  
Hide your face,  
so the world will  
never find you!_

The Titans and Lynx continued into the club, gazing in amazement of all the people and the decorations. The ballroom dancers had begun to dance with the music, some sang along with it. They twirled in practiced steps and turns, moving with perfect motion with all the other dancers as they followed the music.

 _Masquerade!  
Every face a different shade ...  
Masquerade!  
Look around -  
there's another  
mask behind you!_

 _Flash of mauve ...  
Splash of puce ...  
Fool and king ...  
Ghoul and goose ...  
Green and black ...  
Queen and priest ...  
Trace of rouge ...  
Face of beast ..._

 _Faces ...  
Take your turn, take a ride  
on the merry-go-round ...  
in an inhuman race ..._

They all went off in different directions, except for Starfire and Speedy. Starfire didn't look to happy about this, but didn't say a word as they found an empty seat in the back. Lynx disappeared into the crowd, presumably heading for a girl in a cat outfit. Cyborg and Beast boy circled around the dance floor up to the stairs so they could get a better view of all the dancers on the second floor, not to mention that there was a group of girls hanging around up there as well.

 _Eye of gold ...  
Thigh of blue ...  
True is false ...  
Who is who ...?  
Curl of lip ...  
Swirl of gown ...  
Ace of hearts ...  
Face of clown ..._

 _Faces ...  
Drink it in, drink it up,  
till you've drowned  
in the light ...  
in the sound ...  
But who can name the face ...?  
Masquerade!  
Grinning yellows,  
spinning reds ...  
Masquerade!  
Take your fill -  
let the spectacle  
astound you! _

Cyborg got chatting with the group of girls; they all laughed at his lines, but thought he was cute none the less. Beast boy hung back and occupied his time leaning against the rail and watching all the happy couples smiling and having a wonderful time. It was times like these that he really missed Terra…How he missed talking to her and just being around her. It broke his heart that she betrayed them, but in the three long years, he still was looking for a way to cure her from her stony imprisonment. If nothing else then to tell her that he forgave her and wanted to her to know what how he truly felt about her. He turned to the world around him when he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

"Excuse me, but would you like to dance?"

He turned around and his breath caught in his throat. A girl in a light brown Victorian-style dress, her hair was done up in a bun in the back, letting a wave of blonde hair fall down to her shoulders out of the middle of the bun. She had on a black and white mask, obscuring her identity, save only the sparkle of blue eyes shining from the eye piece. Beast boy looked stared at her for the longest time, something was familiar about this girl was ringing in his head, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

 __

 _Masquerade!  
Burning glances,  
turning heads ...  
Masquerade!  
Stop and stare  
at the sea of smiles  
around you!_

 _Masquerade!  
Seething shadows  
breathing lies ...  
Masquerade!  
You can fool  
any friend who  
ever knew you!  
_

The girl tilted her head. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Beast boy shook his head and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry, it's just for a minute there; I thought you were someone I once knew…"

"That's all right, I get that a lot," the girl replied. "So, umm…would you still care for a dance?"

"Would I?!" Beast boy exclaimed. "You bet, come on!"

He took her hand and led her downstairs to the dance floor.

 _Masquerade!  
Leering satyrs,  
peering eyes ...  
Masquerade!  
Run and hide -  
but a face will  
still pursue you! What a night  
What a crowd!  
Makes you glad!  
Makes you proud!  
All the creme  
de la creme!  
Watching us watching them  
And all our fears  
are in the past!_

 _Six months...  
Of relief! Of delight!  
Of Elysian peace!  
And we can breathe at last!  
No more notes!  
No more ghost!  
Here's a health!  
Here's a toast:  
to a prosperous year!  
To the new chandelier!  
And may its  
splendour never fade!  
Six months!  
What a joy!  
What a change!  
What a blessed release!_

 _And what a masquerade!  
_

Everyone one was having a grand time, all except Starfire. She had asked Speedy if he would dance with her, but he sharply told he no. He sat with his arms crossed, glaring at everyone that came near their table. This wasn't turning out to be a fun evening as she thought it would be. She rested he chin in her hands, watching everyone else dance gloomily. She had hoped that the music and the cheerful people would lighten his mood by now, but it seemed to making it worse. She sighed in defeat and stared at the surface of the table. Lynx was walking by when he saw how miserable Starfire looked, sitting there with Speedy. He excused himself from the girl in the cat costume he was talking to and made his way to the table.

"Hey, Star, what's with the frown? It should be the turned upside down," Lynx said.

Starfire looked from at him, with a fake smile. "Oh…Hello, friend Lynx. Are you having a good time?"

He tilted his head. _'Man, even when she's depressed she still tries to be cheery…She shouldn't have to fake being happy.'_ He shrugged, not letting what he was thinking show on his face. "Yeah, but you could make my evening perfect with a dance."

Starfire blushed. "…I'd love to."

Speedy glared at Lynx, jealousy was building up inside of him. Starfire was smiling so carefree, Because of Lynx. He quickly got up from the table. "I'll dance with you, Star."

"But you didn't a minute ago," Starfire said, looking confused.

"I've changed my mind," Speedy stated.

"Sorry, but she promised me this dance, you'll just have to wait your turn," Lynx said.

"She's my girl! If I want to dance with her, I'll damn well dance with her," Speedy snapped.

Starfire stared at Speedy with cold eyes. She got up from the table and took Lynx's hand. "I'll decide who I shall dance with…" She quickly guided Lynx away from the table. Even with the mask, she knew that look Speedy was giving Lynx.

Lynx smirked and let Starfire lead him; her hands felt so soft, the gloves she wore couldn't hide that from him. A feeling rose up inside of him that made him decide he'd have let her take him away she wanted to go, so long as he was holding her hand. The mingled with the crowd and were swept up in the sea of dancers. While dancing, Starfire mouthed a silent thank you to Lynx. He nodded with a serene smile.

 _...Masquerade!  
Paper faces on parade!  
Masquerade!  
Hide your face,  
so the world will  
never find you!_

 _Masquerade!  
Every face a different shade!  
Masquerade!  
Look around -  
There's another  
mask behind you!_

 _Masquerade!  
Burning glances,  
turning heads ...  
Masquerade!  
Stop and stare  
at the sea of smiles  
around you!_

 _Masquerade!  
Grinning yellows,  
spinning reds ...  
Masquerade!  
Take your fill -  
let the spectacle  
astound you!  
_

The music immediately changed to a familiar organ, playing an all too familiar tune as the whole room changed from gold…to red. The flames from the statue's hands rose up higher. In the center of the dance floor, a hidden circular door opened and rising up from it were Robin and Raven. The dancers moved to give the two spaces, watching them patiently. Robin was dressed in a crimson uniform with black gloves and knee-high boots. His spiky hair was gelled back flat against on his head, while giving more notice to the skull mask he wore, a black cape with red lining under it was flung over his right shoulder, it flowed behind him down on that one side like a wing. Attached to his belt was what looked to me a real rapier hanging on his other side. Next to him was Raven in a black Victorian-styled dress.

The lace on the front of her dress matched the same color of her hair, which was carefully done up in a bun in the back, but enough of her hair was loose for it to wave gently down to her shoulders. Her violet dress-gloves reached all the way up to her upper arms, tied at the end with a black laced ribbon. Hanging down from where her dress fanned out down to her feet was a web of dark purple material. It spun from her waist to the edges of her dress as if a spider had made itself a home with her dress. Purple fabric wrapped around her upper arms with black feathers at the end of them, exposing her creamy white shoulders. Her monotone expression was hidden behind a black mask with purple feathers decorating the top edges of it, glittering black stones were embedded around the eyepieces and on curled above them, imitating sparkling eyebrows.

Robin turned to Raven and bowed while she curtsied to him. They took each other's hand and walked off the platform onto the dance floor. Starfire was mesmerized by the dark beauty and grace emitting from the two. Strangely, she found herself wondering what her life would have been like if she had not run away from Robin, again. Would it be her in that dress, holding his hand and being watched with the devoted look Robin was giving Raven. Would she ever have something like that in her life with Speedy? No...Bitterly, she knew deep down, she wouldn't. Speedy was too focused on his anger with Sin to give her the affection she longed her. At that moment, all she wanted was someone to hold her, someone to care for her, nothing more. She held herself and looked with envy at her two dark friends as they began to dance elegantly, drowning out the awes and stares everyone was giving him before they too returned to their partners and danced.

Starfire felt lost in the middle of all these happy people dancing with their lovers or friends. She stood very still and let everyone dance around her. Everything in the room spun with happy faces, dazzling colors, all things were joyous…except for the princess from Tamaran. But then, a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her against a strong, firm chest. She was so happy to be in the embrace, to be basked in this warmth, she didn't think as to whom was holding her. She leaned into the arms and sighed. She finally got enough sense to see who it was that was holding her to find that it was Lynx. He hadn't left her side when Robin and Raven arrived. She seemed so lost when Sin's dark ones showed up, almost envious. He couldn't stand seeing her that way, so lonely…like him. He had to do something to comfort her.

"Lynx…way are you so kind to me?" Starfire asked.

This question took him by surprise, but he composed himself. "I…I can't stand seeing someone be alone."

"Do I look that way?" Starfire asked, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Yes, you do," Lynx replied. "I have a confession to make."

Starfire gazed at him out of the corner of her eye. "What is it?"

"I've always wanted to meet you," Lynx said. "When I first came to this city on an errand for Sin, I hadn't heard of the Titans until Sin asked me to take those pictures for him. Since then, I've listened to everything I could about all of you…mainly you."

"Why me?" Starfire asked curiously, finding herself wondering what he thought of her.

"Well….uh?" Lynx uttered, trying to swallow the lump in his throat. "Y-You looked so alone…"

Her eyes began to water up, but she kept them back.

He continued. "It's not only that, it's also from what I've learned about you from everyone that knows the Titans. You're strong, kind…even understanding of so many things."

"Not everything…I-I ran away from Robin when I saw his dark nature. I didn't try to understand, I just ran…" Starfire said sadly.

"But you don't feel like that now, do you?" Lynx asked. "You trying to understand Robin's vampiric side, aren't you?"

"What Robin is still scares me, but not as it did before," Starfire replied. "Sin, for all his morbid and odd behavior, goes got of his way for things he does not need to do, but he still does it."

"Yeah…That's Sin," Lynx agreed, smiling softly. "He has few people he holds dear, but the few he does, he makes sure they are safe…always."

"Sin must mean a lot to you, doesn't he?" Starfire deduced.

"He saved me from a life of prostitution. He found me one day on the streets when my pimp was beating me for not making enough money that night," Lynx said. "Ever since, he's made sure I've had a good life, I owe him so much, that's why I do anything for him: messenger, delivery boy, recon, you name it. If he asks me to do something, I won't hesitant to do it for him."

"Anything? What if he asked you to do something you didn't want to do?" Starfire asked.

"He never has, whatever he can't ask me to do, he does it himself," Lynx replied, "Sin hardly asks me to do anything for him, but when he does, I'm just glad I can…It makes me feel that I'm paying him back for everything he's done for me."

At that moment, her worries of the grinning Nosferatu were put to an end. Just to hear the gratitude in his voice made her believe that Speedy truly was wrong about Sin.

"Now this is a surprise!" a familiar voice chuckled.

She bolted her head to the side. There was Sin, dressed in a black tuxedo with a black vest over a silk-white shirt. A black ruffled tie covered the front of him, tucked inside his vest. He wore a huge black cape with a light-goldish color inside, and a pair of tight fitting black glove and black riding boots. His bangs were gelled back along with the rest of his long hair, pulled tightly into a ponytail. Upon his face was a white half-mask that covered the good portion of the right side of his face.

He bowed his head. "Evening, princess, I hope you are enjoying the ball? Or are you enjoying something else?" Looking at Lynx's arms around her.

Starfire blushed. "This is a most enjoyable ball. Thank you for inviting us, Sin."

"Think nothing of it, the whole point of it was to relax all of you," Sin replied.

"Then I thank you again for caring for us," Starfire said.

Sin grinned. "My pleasure." He looked at Lynx with a questionable look. "Well? Aren't you going to finish this dance with the lady?"

"Huh? Oh, right!" Lynx blurted out. "Care to, Starfire?"

"That would be wonderful," Starfire replied, and the two joined the rest of the dancers.

Sin chuckled and slipped through the crowd, but halted when he saw Beast boy dancing with the girl in the brown dress. ' _…Heh, heh, things are working out as I planned.'_ He easily made to them and tapped Beast boy on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but may I cut in?" Sin asked.

"Huh…Uh? Sure," Beast boy replied, looking a bit disappointed.

"Don't fret, you can have the next dance," the girl said.

Beat boy cheered up at that. "All right! I'll be over by my friend Cyborg."

"The one that has all those girls around him?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, that's him, but don't worry, I'll try not to break a few hearts while I'm waiting for you," Beast boy replied, giving her a wink.

The girl held a hand over where her mouth was under the mask and giggled. "Be sure that you don't, you might make someone jealous."

"Okay," Beast boy said, and left.

Sin took her hand and the two started dancing. "I see, things are going well, has he realized yet?"

"No…Being Beast boy; he doesn't notice things that well," the girl replied.

"Don't discredit him just yet. After all…last he remembered, his heart still is in that cave," Sin said.

The girl lowered her head. "I glad to see him again, but if he found out, I'm not sure he'll ever want me back…"

Sin cupped her chin in his hand and raised her face up to his. "He does care for you, even after all this time, I should know."

"I hope so…I've been waiting so long," the girl said.

"And that waiting will pay off soon, just need to play the part a bit longer, until its time," Sin replied.

"I'll try, Sin," the girl said.

"Good, it'll soon turn out for the best, don't you worry," Sin reassured her. The danced ended and the girl curtsied to Sin and hurried off to Beast boy. ' _You'll see, my dear, he still cares for you…'_

The music ended and all the dancers stopped and vacated the dance floor to rest for a bit before the next song. Robin and Raven walked over to Starfire and Lynx.

"Glad to see you guys came," Robin said.

"Thank you, Robin. I am also glad to see you and friend Raven are well," Starfire replied. "And I am more so glad to see you wearing a dress, Raven. You look fantastic in it."

"…Thanks, but I'm only wearing it to please Sin..." Raven said, blushing slightly. "But I have to admit, he did a good job on it."

The girls chatted away while Robin and Lynx walked over to the bar.

"So, Lynx, how's everything been in the tower with you?" Robin asked.

"I have to tell you, it's great to be there…but I don't think I fit in," Lynx said.

"What makes you say that?" Robin asked.

"Your pal, Speedy. Without Sin around for him to complain, he's targeted me for his misguided anger," Lynx replied. "He's been making my stay so far not a very good one."

Robin grunted. "I'll have a talk with him about that."

"Don't bother with it; I'm used to that stuff, being a wereleopard and all. You get used to people hating you for being different," Lynx replied too casually.

"That still doesn't make it right," Robin said. "Speedy, or anyone for that matter, has the right to mistreat other because of their uniqueness."

"Uniqueness? You're definitely the fledgling of Sin, you're starting to sound like him," Lynx remarked with a smirk.

Robin wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or an insult. Lynx burst out laughing from the confused look on his face.

"I meant that as a good thing!" Lynx said, patting him on the back. "Geez, don't you think better of him?"

"For the most part, yeah. But he makes me wonder sometimes," Robin replied.

Lynx laughed some more and soon Robin joined him.

"How about a drink?" Lynx suggested.

"Sounds good," Robin replied.

When they got the bar, they saw Jeff working as always, but the two just stared. He was dressed up as a clown with a white shirt, oversized pants, and a red nose. On his head, he wore a red wig and his face was painted up all white with goofy red smile.

"Yeah, what ya' want?" Jeff grunted.

Both of them were trying to keep straight faces, but failing miserably. They busted out laughing harder than before. Lynx fell on the floor, rolling with fits of laughter. Jeff glared at them and snarled.

"HEY! I ain't gonna take none of that! Just cause Sin got me in this getup, don't give youse the right to mock me!"

This might have been scary if for the more he raged, the more his oversized pants flapped about. The boys couldn't stop laughing, every time they glanced at him fuming and those pants flapping, they keep on going. The girl brought Beast boy back to the dance floor, but before they started dancing again, she walked up to Sin.

"Sin, I was wondering, since this is a special occasion…Could you sing for us?" the girl asked.

"Sing?" Beast boy uttered.

Sin tilted his head. "Hmm, I guess one song wouldn't hurt. As you wish, my dear. I will. And I know just the perfect song."

The girl was getting really excited as were some of the other people that over heard the conversation.

"What's the big deal? What, is Sin gonna sing a karaoke song or something?" Beast boy asked.

"No, Sin is also known as Sinclair Lockston over seas and one of the best stage performers! Back in 1976, he actually played the role as the Phantom in the original play of 'The Phantom of the Opera.'" the girl replied.

"This costume I'm wearing now is the same I used in the theater," Sin replied.

"Cool, so you any go?" Beast boy asked.

The girl practically fell over. Sin frowned at the green elf, trying to keep smacking him upside the head.

"Yes, I was quite good and still am," Sin replied curtly.

The other Titans arrived when they heard that Sin was going to sing.

"I have heard some of this play in which you've done, Sin. But I've heard its quite good," Starfire said.

Sin turned to her with familiar grin on his face. "Then, my dear, it will be my pleasure to give you a piece of it right here before your very eyes."

He snapped his fingers and the band began to play a slow, tranquil sound. Everyone gave Sin space as he cleared his throat and flicked his cape over his shoulders after untying it and letting it sink to the floor. He closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on the music as it was coming to the right spot, he then opened his eyes and they were looking at Starfire.

" _I have brought you to the seat of sweet music's throne ... to this kingdom where all must pay  
homage to music ... music..._" Sin began to sing in a low, deep voice. " _You have come here, for one purpose, and one alone ... I first heard you sing, I have needed you with me, to serve me, to sing, for my music ... my music ..._ " 

He started to slowly walk right up to Starfire, cocking his face to the side, so only his mask showed. His eyes looked to have a hypnotizing gleam in them. Starfire felt as though the whole room was swallowing her, leaving only her and Sin in some secluded place.

 _Night-time sharpens,  
heightens each sensation ...  
Darkness stirs and  
wakes imagination ...  
Silently the senses  
abandon their defenses...  
_

 _Slowly, gently  
night unfurls its splendour ...  
Grasp it, sense it -  
tremulous and tender ...  
Turn your face away  
from the garish light of day,  
turn your thoughts away  
from cold, unfeeling light -  
and listen to  
the music of the night ... _

Sin halted three feet from her and raised his hands up in an even pace with the note he was singing. __

_Close your eyes  
and surrender to your  
darkest dreams!  
Purge your thoughts  
of the life  
you knew before!  
Close your eyes,  
let your spirit  
start to soar! _

His voice echoed throughout the club, but to Starfire, it seemed to strike at her very soul. It made her feel so…serene. Like someone had just lifted something heavy off her shoulders.

 _And you'll live  
as you've never  
lived before ...  
_

Sin switched from Starfire to Raven, taking that wondrous place with him. Starfire left weak at the knees and would have fallen if not for Lynx catching her. She mouthed a silent thank you and watched as Sin sauntered up to Raven, taking one of her hands and pulling her away from the crowd.

 _Softly, deftly,  
music shall surround you ...  
Feel it, hear it,  
closing in around you ...  
Open up your mind,  
let your fantasies unwind,  
in this darkness which  
you know you cannot fight -  
the darkness of  
the music of the night._

 _Let your mind  
start a journey through a  
strange, new world!  
Leave all thoughts  
of the world  
you knew before!  
Let your soul  
Take you where you  
long to be!  
_

Sin stroked her cheek, his fingers slid from her soft skin to run a lock of her hair through his fingers. Raven was blushing, but thankfully no one could tell since she was wearing a mask.

 _Only then  
can you belong  
to me ...  
_

Turning her around, he pulled her close to him and slowly wrapping his arms around her.

 _Floating, falling,  
sweet intoxication!  
Touch me, trust me,  
savour each sensation!  
Let the dream begin,  
let your darker side give in  
to the power of  
the music that I write -  
the power of  
the music of the night ...  
_

He turned her around and moved her at arm's length from him. Raven was speechless, the expression on his face was so open, so full of emotion. The same kind of emotion he had helped her express. He cupped her chin and leaned so close he could have kiss her if he moved another inch.

 _You alone  
can make my song take flight -  
help me make the music of the night ..._

He pulled away, smirking.

' _What will he do next?'_ Raven wondered silently.

Sin took her hand and kissed it lightly and bowed to her. Everyone in the whole place started applauding and cheering.

Sin smirked some more, then walked over to Starfire and extended a hand to her.

"If I may pull you away from our leopard here. May I impose upon you this next dance?" Sin asked.

"I would be delighted," Starfire replied.

"Go ahead," Lynx said with an encouraging grin.

Another song started up and Sin and Starfire began to dance. Following them was Robin and Raven, then Beast boy and the girl.

Back at the booth, Speedy was glaring at Sin with pure anger and jealousy. He could tolerate Lynx dancing with her, but seeing Starfire look so happy dancing with that monster sent his blood on fire.

He couldn't stand it anymore. It was either him or Sin and he was planning on staying. He kicked the table out of his way and stalked to the dance floor with his bow in hand.

"Aw, shit, this isn't gonna end well," Cyborg mumbled.

As Speedy got on the dance floor he strung an arrow. "SIN! Get your hands off her right now!"

Sin halted Starfire and turned to Speedy with an annoyed expression. "What is it now? Your tights riding up the wrong place?"

Speedy pulled back the arrow and aimed at Sin. "I said take your hands off my girl, now!"

It almost made Sin choke from the waves of jealousy emitting from the archer. If he didn't do something, Speedy might do something regretfully. He slowly removed his hands from a shaking Starfire, tasting her fear and that enraged him that she was being scared. Not by him, but the one she loved.

"All right, Speedy. Now put the weapon away before you make a fool of yourself," Sin said, raising a hand to him.

"Shut up, you fucking bloodsucker!" Speedy hissed. "You may think you've got them all fooled, but not me!"

"And what is it that you believe I'm doing?" Sin asked patiently.

"You! Everything you've done! You just happen to show up when Robin is about to die and 'save' him? No, you ruined him!" Speedy shouted. "Then you make the Tower into your vacation home and manipulated Raven into believing she's your daughter. Now, you're corrupting Starfire!"

"Corrupting her? And what led you to that conclusion?" Sin asked.

"With him!" Speedy said venomously, waving the tip of his arrow at Lynx, then bringing it back to Sin.

"What did I do to deserve an arrow pointed at my head?" Lynx wondered.

"Don't play dumb with me! I've seen the way you look at her and caught you walking the hallways at night and standing by her door for hours on end!" Speedy accused.

Starfire took a chance and looked at Lynx for a second. 'Really?'

"Umm, hey! I was just worried for her that's all!" Lynx replied hastily. "Can't a guy try to make his new friends comfortable?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'making them comfortable'!" Speedy sneered.

Sin snarled at Speedy. "You will take that back, now, Speedy!"

Starfire looked at him confused. "What? What did you mean by that?"

"He's in love with you," Speedy spat. "That filthy alley cat is in love with you."

"I am not a filthy alley cat!" Lynx protested. "I keep myself very clean, mind you!"

"You and Sin are nothing but scum!" Speedy said heatedly. "Your kind only wants to take unsuspected people and warp or kill them for your own pleasure."

"I've had enough of you, Speedy," Sin said in a dark, deadly tone. "I've put up with this attitude of yours long enough. I think it's time someone gave you the beating your asking for."

"Fine, but you're the one that's going to lose," Speedy replied, then shot his arrow.

Sin caught the arrow in mid-air as easily as before. "You really need to learn a new way to attack me. This is really getting dull."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Sin," Speedy replied smugly.

Sin narrowed his eyes at him, then heard something click in the arrow. The tip opened and a flash of blinding blue light burst from it. Sin let out a howl of pain and dropped the arrow, covering his eyes.

When the light faded, Everyone gasped in horror. Everywhere except where Sin wore his mask was burnt, completely black. His eyes were bleeding and melted in their sockets.

"Sin!" Robin shouted and rushed to his sire's side.

He tried to help him, but Sin suddenly backed handed him away. He turned in the direction he remembered Speedy was and bared his fangs behind his crumbling skin. All logic had fleeted from Sin. The only thing that ran through his mind was Speedy's blood. He lunged at Sin like a lion, reaching out his hands for him.

"Sin! Don't!" Starfire screamed and ran to intercept. She put herself between them and raised her arms. "Please, don't hurt him!"

But Sin didn't hear her, all he knew was that something got in his way from his prey. With a roar, he struck Starfire with the back of his hand. She let out a grunt of pain before sailing and crashed into one of the pillars.

"STAR!" Robin, Speedy, and Lynx shouted at approximately the same time.

Starfire sat herself up and then let out a cry of pain as she clutched her arm. That single cry struck through Sin's ears, bringing him back to his senses. And a good thing, too. He was about to bite down on Speedy. Focusing, he healed his wounds, returning his vision. But when he could see again, he wished he was blinded forever.

There was a bit of bone sticking out of Starfire's left arm and bleeding terribly.

"Starfire...?" Sin gasped.

He moved toward her, but Speedy elbowed him out of the way. Kneeling beside her, he examined the damage, and then glared back at Sin.

"You fucking broke her arm, you bastard!" Speedy roared.

Sin couldn't reply, his eyes were focused on what he had done.

"Starfire...I didn't mean to...I hadn't..!" Sin was cut off when Speedy stood up and stalked right up to his face.

"See what you done! This is the only thing you do. You hurt everything you touch. You bring nothing but pain to everyone around you," Speedy hissed. "Just stay away, you damn monster!"

Sin jerked as if he was struck by some invisible force. The whole crowd, including the other Titans, stared in silent shock as to what he would do next. They expected Sin to start raging again or to just grin and shake it off, but he didn't. He only kept staring at her broken arm.

"A monster..." Sin whispered.

"Yeah, now go and crawl back to whatever crypt you crawled out of!" Speedy said, shoving him back.

This would have been impossible for him to do if Sin wasn't zoning out. He stumbled back and halted, his eyes gazing over with regret.

"Hey! Leave Sin alone!" Lynx said, running up to Speedy.

He was stopped when Sin grabbed his shoulder. "No, Lynx, he's right...I am just a monster."

"Sin…?" Lynx said in an unsure voice.

Sin removed his mask. "I'm just a monster...nothing I do will change that fact. Speedy just proved that when I lost it…"

"No! Sin, don't think like that! Speedy attacked you! He egged you to attack him," Lynx said desperately.

"Maybe, but look at what I done," Sin said, his voice growing more hollowed. "I hurt an innocent. I keep hurting people I don't mean to harm!" He stumbled away. "I hurt another person after losing it!" His gazed over as he clutched his head. "That little girl! I didn't mean to hurt her! I didn't mean to!" Sin was swallowed up in darkness and vanished.

Speedy stared at the spot Sin had once stood and shook violently. "Damn, he is nuts." He turned to Starfire and walked over to her. "Come on, Star, we got to get that arm treated."

"Don't touch me," Starfire said.

"Huh? What?" Speedy gawked in confusion.

At first he thought Starfire was crying from the pain, but the look in her eyes told him that wasn't it. She glared at him with anger, an anger none of them ever seen in her before. She got to her feet, grunting in pain, and awkwardly walked up to Speedy. Once she was close enough, she slapped him across the face hard enough split his lip. He crumbled to the floor, holding a hand over where she slapped him.

"Starfire?"

"Don't ever come near me again!" Starfire shouted angrily, a new wave of tears rolling down her face. "You harmed my friend's protector, you then insult him by claiming false accusations upon him!"

Everyone was in a state of shock. They were scared and amazed at how much anger was in the alien girl. What was even scarier was that it almost matched her sister's exactly. Her eyes glowed with her rage to the point that Speedy believed she was going to blast him right there. But instead, she walked past him to her friends, who got over their shock when they saw her wound again, came to her aid. Lynx came up to her, giving her a look to ask if it was all right he helped. She nodded and he helped her out of the club with the other Titans. Raven had begun using her powers to take some of Starfire's pain away and heal what she could. Robin remained, glaring at Speedy with pure malice in his Evil Eye.

"Get back to the tower, you've done enough damage today," Robin growled and headed for the back of the club.

"Huh? But I was only trying to help them…" Speedy uttered.

He heard the sound of cracking knuckles and looked up to greet a glaring Chuck and a pissed off clown. Jeff and Chuck picked Speedy up off the ground and carried him to the door. There, they hurled him right out onto the street.

"Come here, and we'll do more than toss your ass on the pavement!" Jeff threatened.

They retreated into the club and slammed the doors closed. Speedy got off the street as fast as he could before a car or truck came by and ran him down. He leaned against a lamp for support and stared dumbfounded at the club.

"What have I done…?" Speedy murmured.

Deep down under the club. Sin was lying in his coffin, staring at his mask.

"A monster…an angel in hell," Sin said sorrowfully.

He let his hand fall and his mask spilled out of his hand. It fell to the floor and bounced once, making a clicking sound that echoed throughout the large lair. He wiped his face, only to smear this blood tears more over his face. He stared at the stone ceiling, but his eyes saw nothing. The only thing he could see was the lifeless eyes of a little girl, holding on to a blood-soaked doll.

"I nothing but a monster….a monster…a monster," Sin repeated. He looked at his hands and the blood on them. "No matter how hard I try, Lania. I will never be able to regain what I lose with you…"

"Sin?" Robin said softly upon entering the lair.

Sin had told Robin the same night he brought him and Raven down here, that his blood could open the door since he was his fledgling.

"Go away, Robin. Before I turn you into a monster, too," Sin said.

"I'm not leaving, and your not a monster. Speedy was just ranting," Robin said, approaching the coffin.

"No…he was right on the mark, as always," Sin replied. "I try to not be one, but then I end up hurting someone. I always do…"

No, Sin, stop saying that," Robin said. "Yeah, I'm not human anymore, but you're the one that's kept me from becoming one. You fight so hard to keep us save, even at the cost of your own life…er, unlife. That doesn't make you a monster, Sin."

Sin barked out a laugh. "If you only knew my past, Robin. You wouldn't so quick to say I'm not."

"You're right. I don't know your past, but I don't care," Robin stated. "What I do care about is the person you are now, the man that saved me and gave me a second chance."

Sin turned his eyes to him. "How can you say that, even after what I had done to Starfire?"

"Because that was an accident. We all saw it, and if you had stayed long enough, you would have found out that Starfire standing up to you," Robin replied with a smirk.

"She what?" Sin uttered, looking completely surprised.

Robin nodded. "I swear, I've never seen her so angry before! She picked herself up, walked right up to him and slapped the hell out of him!"

Some of his old humor returned to his crimson eyes. He chuckled while placing a bloody hand on his forehead. "I wish I had seen that! AHAHAHAHA!"

Robin laughed along with him. "Yeah, and it was about time someone did. But turning out Starfire was the one, that was priceless!"

"…How is she now?" Sin asked.

"She's fine, Raven and the others took her back to the tower to treat her arm," Robin replied. "I don't know how bad it was, but I think she's going to be out of commission for some time."

Sin fell silent, looking back up at the stone ceiling with a vacant expression.

"She doesn't blame you, Sin," Robin said.

"No, but I blame myself," Sin replied. "I hurt her, regardless of how it happened, I struck her when I was angry with someone else."

"Sin…" Robin said, but stopped when he placed a hand on his.

"Don't have to say anymore…" Sin said. "Just another unwanted memory that I will bare forever now. I will be fine, I just…"

"I know, Sin," Robin said softly. "I know…"

"Maybe fate had been kind to be to let someone like you, Raven, and your friends enter my life," Sin said with a ghost of a smile. "You're just so damn forgiving! Hah, hah!"

"We'll always be your friend, Sin. No matter what happens," Robin said, smiling. "Whatever you were back then doesn't matter anymore. You're Sin, the crazy vampire that we befriended, and the father you came to be to me…"

Sin laid in his coffin, staring up at his fledgling with new blood tears rolling down his blood-stained face. He was speechless, there was nothing he could say to tell Robin how much that meant to him. But he didn't have to, it was all too plainly in his eyes for Robin to see. He slowly rose up and sat in his coffin and pulled Robin in his embrace. Robin returned the affection and held onto him. They didn't have to say anything at that moment. Both knew what the other was thinking and left it at that. After quite some time, Sin let go of Robin.

"Come, we best to tend to Starfire," Sin said.

"I think she'll be just fine," Robin replied.

"What makes you say that?" Sin asked.

"Because Lynx carried her out and from the look on her face, I think she's going to be fine from now on," Robin answered with a smirk.

A crack of a devilish smile appeared on the elder vampire's face and soon the whole lair echoed with laughter.

A/N: FINALLY! I finally got this update done! wOOt! LOL! I apologize for the long wait, I'm not going to make up any excuses this time. I'm blaming my own laziness on getting his update out so late. Please, forgive me for taking so long. I hope this chapter makes up for it and that it was worth the wait.

All right, now that I've said that. I have a question for all of you on behalf a close friend of mine, BloodCri. I'm disappointed that no one is reviewing her work. Her stories really are good and I hope she receives some new readers and more reviews soon. Anyway, back to the question. She had asked me to put this poll on my next chapter so she many know what pairings to do for a future fanfic. It's a houkounin fanfic and she wants your opinion on who should be the houkounin for her character Cri. The choices are Raven or (my character from Teen Titans: Inferno) Ifrit? Please be kind enough to give your choice along with the review you give me, or review BloodCri's stories and let her know herself. Thank you for taking the time and hope to see results for her. Till the next updater…Later.


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, if I did, it would be much like this story right here. My only claim to this are my characters: Sin, Lynx, and Stefan, plus the plot.

A/N: Thank you, everyone, for the positive feedback on this. I'd like to give some personal gratitude to the individuals…but thanks the new rule, I can't. So I'm just going to have to stick with just thanking all of those that have left me a review. If everyone liked the last chapter, then I'm sure you'll love this one. Things are going to change, particularly for a specific person. You'll all know who it is when the time comes. Well, on with the story…

 **Bleeding Wounds**

The Titans had planned to kick Speedy out and back to Titans East, but oddly, Sin had advised against it. Robin was speaking to him as to why he wanted Speedy around.

"It doesn't make any sense, Sin," Robin said. "Why should we keep him around after what he did?"

Sin was lounging on the conch, reading on old leather bound journal. "He still has a role to play in all this, my boy. The ball worked according to plan…not as perfectly as I wanted, though."

"What was the point of that ball, anyway?" Robin asked. "It was fun, don't get me wrong, but what did it have to do with Speedy?"

Sin flipped a page. "To separate him from Starfire by showing her what she really had with him, nothing. I knew he would act like a jealous toad when he saw her having fun without him. Just went a little further, that's all."

"So, that whole ball was just for that?" Robin said in disbelief.

"Of course not! There was far more to the ball than you know," Sin replied.

"What then?" Robin asked, feeling a headache forming.

"One simply being, I love masquerade balls! Hah, hah!" Sin chuckled.

Robin groaned and rested his aching head on the backrest of the couch. Sin chuckled amusedly and flipped another page, then took out a pen and started writing in the journal.

Robin brought up his head back up. "What are you writing in that, anyway?"

"Your development. I've been making a recording of your progress," Sin replied, not halting in his writing. "It's required of all Sires to have a written record of a fledglings' growth."

"Can I look?" Robin asked.

Sin stopped writing and held the journal open out to him. He took it, when he glanced inside; he immediately looked back at Sin, then back at the journal. He couldn't make out a single thing written in it. Everything was written in strange glyph symbols. Sin smirked and took the journal back.

"What language are you writing in? I've never seen symbols like that before," Robin said.

"A very old one, older than any recorded written language mortals know," Sin replied, returning to writing in the journal. "It's a dead language of our ancestors…"

"Ancestors?" Robin echoed.

"Yes…A race far older than any Nosferatu alive, but are believed to be extinct now. Their name is only known to direct descendents that have managed to live up to this day," Sin explained.

"Are you one?" Robin asked.

"…By my mistress, Lania, yes," Sin replied.

"Then who are they and what's their name?" Robin asked eagerly. He was very curious about a race that all vampires descended from.

Sin finished writing and closed the journal. "I cannot give you that knowledge until you have fully matured."

Robin frowned. "I'm already considered an adult, Sin."

"Not by Nosferatu standards," Sin replied. "You're still a baby by us."

"…So, exactly when am I _full grown_ , eh?" Robin grumbled bitterly.

Sin tilted his head back. "Oh…I'd say the next hundred years."

"Hundred years!" Robin shouted.

"Nosferatu are judged by their age, and a hundred years is the adequate range of when a Nosferatu fully matures," Sin explained. "The older you are, the stronger and more respected you are."

"Sounds like classing to me," Robin remarked.

"Truthfully, it is," Sin admitted. "And for a reason. We are all different in powers and skills, some stronger than others in certain areas. Racism is a non-existing factor to us, for Nosferatu are above such petty mortal concerns. Blood is blood to us, no matter the color of skin it hides under, it's all still red."

"Morbid reasoning…but I guess that's a better view than how most people see it," Robin said.

Sin nodded his head slightly.

"Then why do you class?" Robin wondered.

"For status," Sin replied.

"Huh?" Robin said, looking confused again.

Sin sighed. "We are positioned in the society by age and what skills we obtain to function well for the good of our community."

Robin thought about this for a minute, and then a thought occurred to him. "Where do you stand in the Society?"

Sin grinned. "I'm an Enforcer, about the highest you can get, besides a Council member."

"Enforcer? What's that exactly?" Robin asked.

"A Nosferatu that keeps in check other Nosferatu," Sin answered. "An Enforcer is assigned to keeping Nosferatu from breaking the rules and hunting down rogues. We are judge, jury, and executioner for any that crosses the line."

"Even someone on the Council?" Robin wondered.

"Yes…if enough evidence is shown, even a Council Member will be punished, but mostly likely killed," Sin replied.

Robin looked curious at him at that last statement. "Why say that?"

"For anyone on the Council that tries to get away with a crime with his or her high status will have proven they were never worthy of their office," Sin replied. "And to have a corrupted leader is something that no Nosferatu will suffer…"

"So, what if an Enforcer breaks the law?" Robin asked.

"Same fate," Sin replied without hesitation.

Robin took a moment to let all of this settle in his mind, and then asked, "Then where do I fit in the society?"

"With your development and past life, I'd say you'd make a fine Enforcer…after your training with me is complete," Sin answered. "Of course, that is my opinion."

Robin found himself feeling some pride from Sin's statement. He never really thought about how he would spend his eternity until just now. All he really knew was how to uphold justice and defend the weak. He figured that he'd be able to make a living in anything he wanted when he got tired of crime-fighting, Bruce made sure he had a solid education. But now, he would never age, never die—of natural causes, at least—he'd always be just close to his twenties.

Thankfully, his growth development made it so he looked well in his twenties, so he had no fears of people treating him like a teenager forever. Becoming an Enforcer like Sin sounded like a really good idea, though. He imagined it would be hard to obtain that title. But that was a challenge and a newfound goal he found exciting.

Coming from the hallway, Raven walked in with Starfire, with her arm in a cast and signed by everyone except two…Sin and Speedy. Starfire wouldn't let Speedy sign it because she was still mad at him and wouldn't talk to him. Why Sin hadn't signed it was simple, he kept avoiding her like the plague. Ever since the ball, he wouldn't let Starfire near him because of what he did to her. The guilt was too much for him to bear to look at her, even though Robin had told him she didn't blame him countless times.

Upon seeing Starfire enter, Sin immediately sat up, but before he could vanish, Robin had grabbed his arm. "She wants to talk to you."

Sin remained silent.

"Just give her a minute, please," Robin said.

Sin grunted. "Fine…"

Starfire approached Sin very cautiously, not out of fear for her safety, but for the fear of him fleeting away. She didn't want him to feel he couldn't be around her, it made her sad to know how much it was eating at him.

"Sin…may I ask you to join me in private, I wish to speak to you," Starfire said.

Sin didn't turn to face her. "…Alright."

Starfire lowered her head solemnly. "Please, follow me."

She didn't bother to see if he acknowledged her. Floating to the air, she flew out of the living room and back into the hallway. Sin vanished from his spot and followed her. She went to her room and left her door open, indicating she wished for him to enter. He found her sitting patiently on the bed and cradling her healing arm with her other on her lap. With a sigh, he rematerialized at her opened door.

Starfire turned her head to greet him. "You may enter."

He nodded his head and entered her room and closed the door behind him.

"What do you wish to say?" Sin asked blankly.

"That I do not blame you for what happened at the ball, you were provoked and naturally lashed out," Starfire said.

"I have better control over my actions, I blame myself for not showing any when I broke your arm," Sin stated. "I could have easily gotten around you if I wished, but I didn't…"

"Again, I do not blame you, for whatever reason that caused you to…" She halted to glance down at her bandaged arm.

"How can you?" Sin asked. "You have every right to be."

"Because I don't have to," Starfire replied simply.

Sin cracked a ghost of a smile. "…All right. You won't feel better until I do, so I'll try."

"It would make me feel better," Starfire admitted, then grabbed a pen off her nightstand. "Would you like to sign my cast?"

"Sure," Sin replied, taking the pen and signing his name and gave the pen back to her.

Starfire saw him begin to leave. "Sin!...Uh, could you stay with me a bit longer?"

Dumbfounded, Sin turned to her. "What for?"

"I-I just want your company for a bit longer, that's all…" Starfire replied, trying to suppress her blush.

Sin stared at her for a moment, but then he conceded. "Sure…"

Starfire brightened up and smiled. "Thank you."

Sin looked tense where he stood. He tried distracting himself by looking around her room, finding it exactly like it looked when he last was in it. "Still looks like Barbie decorated your room."

Starfire giggled, knowing he didn't mean any offense by the remark. He crossed his arms over his chest and walked about the room. Starfire tried to think of something to talk about, but nothing came to mind. Unconsciously, her good hand ran its fingers through a lock of her thick red hair. She only stopped when she realized what she was doing and took her hand away, but then her attention was drawn to Sin's long hair, flowing in the back behind him in its loose ponytail.

"Sin, may I touch you hair?" Starfire asked.

Again, he found himself wondering. "Why?"

"I have often wondered what a man's hair feels like…when no hair gel is put in it," Starfire replied, blushing. "Robin and Speedy always added so much gel in their hair, it was always awkward."

Sin didn't press the matter when he saw her cradle her arm to her side. Without saying a word, he came to her to the bed and sat down next to her with his back to her and removed his hair-band, letting his hair free and fan out. Starfire was left wordless. Hesitant, she inched her good hand to his shining black hair. But before she touched his hair, Sin jumped up from the bed, grabbing his rear.

"What the devil!?" Sin shouted. "Something bit me!"

Starfire looked confused and looked where Sin had occupied. Right there, staring back up at her with a goofy, happy smile was Silkie, with a piece of Sin's jacket hanging off its teeth.

"Silkie!" Starfire exclaimed and took the bug in her good arm.

Sin glared at the thing. "It bit me…"

"He was just being playful, he doesn't mean anything by it," Starfire said, petting Silkie.

Sin doubted it, looking at the hole on his jacket. Starfire giggled and pulled the leather material out of Silkie's mouth.

"I'm so sorry about that," Starfire said, putting Silkie down on the floor.

Sin watched the thing crawl around the room. "Hmm, I suppose this is what I deserve after the ball…"

"Please, don't say that," Starfire said. "It was not your fault. I should have made Speedy leave his bow here."

"I don't think that would have matter much," Sin replied, sitting back down to her, but keeping his eyes on Silkie.

Starfire shook her head. But the sight of his hair brought on her curiosity again. She gingerly reached out to his hair. Her fingers made contact this time and they slid easily through them to be greeted by what she thought was silk. His hair was that soft, but it was thick and rich. She ran her fingers down the length of his hair, liking the feel. Near the end of his hair, her fingers met a knot. Out of instinct, she tried to use her fingers to brush it out, but all she accomplished was yanking his head back.

"That is attached, you know?" Sin remarked.

"I am sorry!" Starfire quickly apologized.

"It's fine," Sin said.

She ran her hand through his hair again and found more knots in it. Getting slightly irritated by the small interruptions, she reached over and grabbed a brush off her nightstand, and then she used it to brush out them out.

"What are you doing?" Sin asked.

"For such nice hair, you don't take good care of it," Starfire remarked, continuing with her brushing.

"I have other things to concern my time than tending my hair," Sin said.

"Then you won't mind me brushing it for you," Starfire retorted.

Sin felt annoyed by this, but he didn't complain. But what made him edgy was that it brought back a memory…

"My mistress used to do this for me every night," Sin sighed, not out of pain; he had been trying for the last few weeks since he's been with the Titans to not allow himself to remember the pain that came from his past. But rather the few moments that were pleasant. "She always said she loved the feel…"

"You do have nice hair," Starfire complimented. "It makes me wish my hair had such a soft feel as yours."

Sin smirked. "Are you saying I have girlish hair?"

Starfire faltered and blushed in embarrassment. "No! No! I didn't mean it that way!"

Sin chuckled. "Just teasing you, princess."

"Oh, okay," Starfire said with a sigh of relief.

Sin decided to change the subject. "You and Lynx seem to be spending quite a lot of time together, eh?"

Starfire blushed. "…Yes, we have. He is very nice and fun to be around."

"That's good to hear, because if he wasn't, I would have to rip his heart out," Sin replied.

Starfire's eyes widened. "No, you cannot do that to him! Even if he was!"

"I'm kidding, princess. I just wanted to see how you reacted to that," Sin laughed.

"…I really like him," Starfire admitted bashfully.

"Indeed, and you know what they say, third times' the charm," Sin said with a smirk.

Starfire stopped her brushing. "I do not know what is wrong with me, Sin. I once loved Robin with all my heart and turned away from him the moment he became a Nosferatu. And then I love Speedy, but then I leave him, too…"

"You had a good reason to leave him," Sin replied. "He had become an obsessive, paranoid little nit."

"All in all, I now am beginning to feel drawn to Lynx and I've only known him for a shorter time than either Robin or Speedy," Starfire said. "What is wrong with me…?"

"Nothing, you wish to have someone who can give you the same affection that you give everyone…in a different manner," Sin answered simply, he moved his head some so he could glance at her out of the corner of his eye. "…And a fear of being alone, am I right?"

Starfire grimaced. "Yes…"

"I understand…" Sin said.

"Am I being a fool with my feelings for Lynx, will I run away from him the moment something goes amiss?" Starfire questioned, though, it was directed at herself.

"You've seen Lynx in his animal form, correct?" Sin inquired.

"Yes, after…after we lost to my sister," Starfire replied sadly.

"You understand what kind of creature he is and what he must do to survive, don't you?" Sin pressed on.

Starfire nodded.

"Doesn't that frighten you?" Sin asked.

Starfire looked deep inside if her. "…No, I am not afraid of anything with him."

Sin smiled and moved back to his original position. "As long as you keep that in mind, princess, things will work themselves out.

"Thank you, Sin," Starfire said.

"It's nothing at all," Sin shrugged, crossing his arms.

Starfire smiled more and felt a great weight be felt off her shoulders that she never noticed was there before. She was beaming and continued her work with enthusiasm. Carefully using her good hand, she started parting his hair and holding thick locks of it with her other—which was pinned to her waist because of the cast—she held the locks separate between her fingers and began braiding. Not hearing a protest from the grinning Nosferatu, she continued. Reaching the end of the braid, she reached over, again, to her nightstand and was about to pick up a pink hair-band.

"Not on your life," Sin growled.

She immediately withdrew her hand and solved her problem by tying the end of his braid into a sufficient knot. At that time, Cyborg and Beast Boy opened Starfire's door. Cyborg had come to check up on how Starfire's arm was doing and see if she was all right. Beast Boy just tagged along, figuring he could make her laugh if she was still blue. Both stared at what was transpiring and jaws dropped opened. Their dumbfounded looks were soon replaced by a fit of roaring laughter. Beast Boy clutched his gut, laughing hysterically. Cyborg was resting his forehead against the doorframe and banging on the wall outside with tears in his eyes. Starfire stared at them with a confused look as did Sin.

"And what is so funny?" Sin demanded.

Beast Boy point at him, halting in his laughing long enough to explain. "You've got pigtails!"

Sin narrowed his eyes and got up and went to the mirror on the dresser. Sure enough, Starfire had braided his hair into pigtails. Looking down, he saw that Silkie was laughing, too.

"Never thought the great and mysterious Sin would like to play with his hair! Hah, hah, hah!" Beast Boy exclaimed, laughing harder.

Cyborg was enjoying himself, too…At least until he glanced at Sin again. "Uh…BB, for the love of your life, RUN!"

Beast Boy instantly stopped laughing. "Huh, why?"

Cyborg only pointed at Sin with a look of pure fright. Beast Boy followed where his finger pointed and let out a yelp. Sin was glowing with a dark aura and his eyes were the very image of hell's horrors. The two both backed up and screamed like a pair of school girls.

" _ **Crimson Laceration!"**_

Cyborg and Beast Boy flung themselves out of the doorway, avoiding the blades of crimson energy directed at them. Moving fast, they got to their feet and ran down the hallway.

"You just had to piss off Sin, didn't you?" Cyborg shouted.

"Hey, you were laughing, too!" Beast Boy retorted.

Making it into the stairway and ran down them, thinking they were finally safe. Cyborg looked up at the doorway when they past the level, seeing that Sin hadn't followed them. "Oh man, that was…Ah hell!"

His relief fled him when a black panther with burning crimson eyes pounced into the stairway and locked eyes with the boys. It glared at them and let out a bone shaking roar. Fear and adrenaline pushed them to run for their lives as the panther gave chase. It chased them all over the Tower, appearing out of nowhere when they believed to be safe. It caught up with them in the vehicle bay and cornered them against a wall. Now that they were trapped, the panther started to change back into its human form, into a red-eyed glaring vampire.

"Thought that was funny, eh?" Sin snarled. He stalked towards them with a devilish grin developing on his face as his shadow consumed the cowering boys. "…Now it's my turn for a laugh, Hah, hah, hahaha, _AHAHAHAHAHAHA_!"

The next five minutes in the vehicle bay were filled with screams. When the screaming stopped, Sin was walking out of the vehicle bay with an evil smile on his face. Hanging by chains behind him were Beast Boy and Cyborg. Beast Boy had pink bows in his hair and wearing a pink dress. Cyborg was the most unfortunate. Since he had no hair, Sin had stapled them to his head and put a pink tutu on him.

Lynx walked by then and saw them and started laughing, then pulled out a small, black digital camera from his pocket. "Oh shit! This is a Kodak moment!" Followed by a series of flashes from his camera.

"Stop taking pictures and get us down!" Beast Boy shouted at him.

Lynx snickered and put his camera away. "Alright, alright."

He strolled up to them with a carefree smile and took a hold of the chains. With one yank, he broke the link of the chains. Cyborg and Beast Boy landed, hard, on their rear ends.

"Thanks…" Cyborg moaned.

"You're welcome!" Lynx smiled happily. "Uh…I'm curious, how did this happen?"

"We caught Starfire playing with Sin's hair. She had giving him pigtails," Beast Boy answered, trying to get the pink bows out of his hair.

Lynx fell to the floor rolling with laughter. "Sin, with pigtails! That's just priceless! I've gotta go catch him with them before he fixes his hair!"

In the blink of the eye, Lynx jumped to his feet and ran off to find the vampire.

Cyborg pulled the pink bows as painlessly as he could off his head. "Mental note: _NEVER_ piss off Sin, ever!"

"Uh-huh," Beast Boy agreed.

Running up the flight of stairs with an inhuman speed, Lynx darted into the living quarters where he knew Sin to be by his scent. Sin, being a Nosferatu, was easy to track if someone knew what smell to look for. Although, he knew Sin's scent better than anyone for all the times he's worked for the crazy vampire. He always knew where Sin would pop up, for his scent would always appear first before he manifested himself. It was a unique scent for a vampire: blood, graveyard, and a cat. Yes, Sin reminded him of a great big cat just like himself and his brethren.

That was the reason why he felt so comfortable around the vampire, even though their two races were sometimes on unfriendly terms. But that wasn't the case with Sin; he didn't care about those grudges. To Lynx he was kind of like a big brother, always looking out for him and getting him out of a jam. He never had to worry about Sin betraying him or harming him in some way. Ever since he was rescued from the slums and his pimp, Lynx owed Sin everything. He'd do anything for the vampire, all he need do was ask, but Sin never abused him with that. Another reason why he trusted the vampire so much; he never made Lynx do something that he wasn't prepared to do himself.

Not many vampires would act the way Sin did. Then again, Sin wasn't like anyone he's ever known. Always grinning like a Cheshire cat from hell, seemingly knowing more than what's really going on. And because of his odd friend, he was able to make a honest living from then on. He always had a safe place to sleep, even food to keep him healthy and even a good education. Yeah, he owed his life to the vampire and he would gladly stake it if it meant he could repay everything back to him.

He was pulled away from his thoughts when another scent caught his attention. A very familiar scent; one that he has gotten to know very well: Starfire's. Hers was a very interesting scent to him. If happiness could be described in a scent, then that would be the word he'd use with her scent. It was rich and tropical, like fresh oranges, that was the kind of fruit he could compare to her even if she was a being from another world. He couldn't figure any better word to fit her scent, but it made him feel relaxed whenever he was near her and that was all he needed to know.

When he came to her room, he found Sin with Starfire, undoing the pigtails and pulling it back in a simple ponytail.

"Awww, I missed it!" Lynx pouted, putting his camera away.

Sin turned to him and grinned. "Sorry, but you'll have to be quicker next time."

Lynx smirked in reply, and then looked at Starfire, who was smiling at him pleasantly. That smile made him want to fall down on all fours, crawl right up to her and rub his cheeks against her body. To a wereleopard, that was a true sign of affectation. But he wasn't sure how she would react to that if he did, even if she was an alien, he didn't want to freak her out, not until she understood what that action meant. Wanting to show her some sign of his compassion for her, though, he walked over to her and sat next to her, then he took her good hand and raised it to his cheek and rubbed it against her hand. He watched her intensively to see how she would respond.

Starfire had a light pink color on her cheeks, but she didn't pull her hand away from him. First good sign that she wasn't freaking out. He smiled and sniffed her hand before letting go. She stayed there, her light pink growing a deep red, as she gazed at her hand and slowly brought her eyes up to meet his.

"Sorry if that unnerved you some…" Lynx apologized. "That's kinda how we…say a hi."

"I am not bothered, Lynx," Starfire said, still smiling. "It was actually nice."

Sin chuckled softly to himself. "I'll leave you two be…" He took one step back and he vanished into the shadows.

Neither heard him. In fact, both had forgotten he was there.

"Uh, Star…" Lynx said, sounding unsure of himself.

"…Yes, Lynx?" Starfire replied softly.

"Want to go out on a…date with me today?" Lynx asked.

Starfire smiled. "I would love to, but why did you ask? You know I would agree."

"I know, I just thought I'd ask you for once," Lynx replied. "Make it normal…"

Starfire touched his hand. "I appreciate that."

His ears perked up and the tip of his tail curled up slightly, smiling. "Okay! Let's go!"

They left her room and the Tower, heading out to town. It didn't matter where they went, just so long as they were together. They roamed the streets until something caught their eye, then check out, other than that, they didn't have a destination. When they got hungry they simply went to the first restaurant they spotted. This was pretty much all they ever did when they went out, except when Starfire wanted to go shopping at the mall or do something special. Lynx would go along with it wordlessly. He'd just smile at her and nod.

After an hour, they started to get hungry and decided to get some food at the pizza plaza. It was while they were eating their pizzas that Starfire pondered on how different Lynx was from Robin and Speedy. Compared to those two, Lynx was what she might call a perfect companion, if nothing more than a good friend. Although, friend wasn't what she had in mind with him...

He wouldn't dwell on anything negative, always turning the conversation around into a joke, or something positive that would end up making her laugh and feeling better. She hardly ever saw him sad or brooding about something like Robin had a habit of doing. She never held that against him, but she was relieved that Lynx didn't share the same trait. Whenever she had a question about an earth custom that she still hadn't learned quite well yet, he would always be patient and explain it to her to where it had sense to her. Rather, he was direct with his answers, never beating around the bush when it came to trying to explain a touchy subject. Thanks to him, she now understood that napkins weren't appetizers whenever she was in a restaurant or fast food joint.

But something did bother her about him. He never divulged to her about his past. It was one of the subjects he would avoid and try to change it to something else, but she had to know.

"Lynx, you need not answer this if you don't want to…but what was your life like growing up?" Starfire asked carefully.

Lynx immediately fell silent, looking deep in thought as he nipped at his pizza. She waited patiently for him to say something but he never did. Just when she was about to give up, he locked his eyes with hers.

"I was a prostitute mostly while growing up," Lynx replied with a blank tone. "My father sold me off to a pimp…for a percentage of whatever I made, of course."

Starfire was stunned but she didn't say anything, not wanting to make him uncomfortable and stop his story.

"That's how I became a wereleopard, really," Lynx continued. "I was taken to a client that had an odd fetish for cutting people up during sex. What my pimp didn't know was that he used claws and his teeth to cut them up with." He sighed and leaned back in his seat, letting his hands rest slightly on the tabletop. "I probably would have died if I hadn't been infected by him after it was all over with. My pimp was mad of course, but he was only mad at him for damaging one of his goods. Anyway, I healed up miraculously fast within two days. I didn't have a single scar left from that incident. It's not like what Hollywood makes it that we have a scar like vampires do when they bite someone. Our bodies heal from any wound perfectly, except a wound from another lycanthrope or a vampire and of course silver, those take longer to heal, but we never end up with a scar."

"That is good to know," Starfire said. "I'd believe that it would be horrible to have a reminder of such things…"

Lynx nodded in agreement. "I thought the same when I first learned. My pimp was happy with my recovery, didn't even stop to think of how I healed so fast, it only meant he could push me back out to his clients. But that of course changed, too, when my first full moon came around…"

"What happened?" Starfire asked.

"I don't remember," Lynx replied depressively. "All I remember was pain all over my body and blacking out, when I came to, the client was dead and there was blood everywhere…and all over me."

"Oh X'Hal…" Starfire gasped.

"Yeah, when my pimp found out, he literally beat me to death, but he couldn't. I found I could take a lot of damage now and heal from it within a few hours. It wasn't until then that he calmed down and noticed that I had these." He pointed to his ears and waved his tail. "That's how he figured out why I killed his client. When he realized what I was and what I could take, he decided to send me to 'different' clients. Ones that usually left me almost dead by the end of the night."

"That is horrible! Why would he put you through such things?" Starfire wondered in disgust.

Lynx brought his hand up and rubbed his fingers on his thumb. "Money, babe, it was all for the money. And since he had a prostitute that could take any licking giving to him, he could just keep using that same one over and over…and over."

"How did Sin find you?" Starfire asked, wanting to find some merriment for him to explain.

"Actually, I kinda found him," Lynx admitted. "It was just after a full moon and I somehow broke out of the cage my pimp would put me in, to keep me from hurting anyone. When I became aware again, I was standing right in front of him on a cold rainy night, totally naked. I don't know why he helped me then, still don't to this day, but he just took off his coat and wrapped it around me and carried me away." He turned to look out over the balcony and watched the people on the street. "Sin took me in from that day on, even found a clan for me who taught me how to control my beast and even shape-shift without the aid of the moon. He saved me, Starfire. He gave me a life worth living for."

Starfire wanted to say some words to comfort him, but she was both awed and hurt for the pain in his eyes. They gleamed in his golden orbs like a dim candle ready to blow out. It was a look that she never wanted to see in his eyes again. It almost reminded her of someone else, but she couldn't remember who she saw it from.

Lynx brought her out of her thoughts when he turned back to her, letting her fill the full weight of his gaze. "I hope this doesn't change your opinion of me…I wouldn't blame you."

Starfire was startled. "W-Why would you think that?"

"Because most people start to treat someone like dirt the moment they found out they used to be a whore…" Lynx replied sadly.

Starfire felt instant fury, not at Lynx but at the very thought that someone would treat him that way because of his background. She slammed her fist on the table and stood up, scaring him a little as she stared at him with strong, affectionate eyes. "Do not ever call yourself that ever again! You are not dirt to be treated as such, you are a living being that deserves to be treated with kindness and love as any other living being does on this planet!"

Now he was left in a stun silence. All he could do was focus on the redheads' eyes.

"You are a kind and fun-loving person, Lynx," Starfire said softly, starting to calm down. "And over the last few days…I have come to feel for you."

"Star—!" Lynx was suddenly cut off when he caught a scent of something in the air, followed by a buzzing sound. His ears fell flat to his skull and his tail bristled out. "Something dangerous is coming!"

"You got that right!" an annoying, almost whining voice replied from above.

Starfire and Lynx looked up and gasped. Flying above them was a preying mantis, but this one was the size of a truck! And riding on its back was Kitten.

"What the?" Lynx uttered, staring up at the big bug.

"Kitten!" Starfire shouted, glaring at the spoiled child.

"There you are, Starfire!" Kitten said. "I've been looking all over for you after I got this bad boy up and going!"

"Kitten, how did you create that thing?" Starfire demanded.

"You think my father was the only one who had a knack at genetic engineering?" Kitten replied mockingly. "My daddy left enough notes for me to continue his work, as he had planned for me to do." She smiled evilly at Starfire. "Just didn't think I'd use it against him."

"You are still a vile and hate-filled person, Kitten!" Starfire accused, her eyes blazing with the anger she felt toward her.

"I try!" Kitten replied with a twisted grin. She looked around. "Where's Robby-Poo?!"

" _He_ is not here," Starfire answered.

Kitten glared at her, then she finally noticed Lynx. "Who's that?"

"Someone you don't want to mess with if you mean Starfire any harm!" Lynx warned, baring his teeth at her slightly.

"Whatever, tell me where Robby-Poo is now or I'll feed you to my mantis!" Kitten threatened.

"We will not tell you anything," Starfire stated, charging up a starbolt in her good hand.

Kitten grinned like a Cheshire cat. "With that busted arm, I don't think you should fight me so brazenly, if I were you." She tapped the back of the giant mantis and pointed at them. "Attack!"

The mantis obeyed her command and dove down. Some of the people that were on the balcony ran for safety inside. Starfire and Lynx quickly moved out of the mantis's way as it slammed down, cracking the floor and part of the railing.

"I'll only say this one more time, bitch!" Kitten hissed. "Tell me where my Robby-Poo is, or I'll kill you!"

"Never," Starfire replied defiantly.

Kitten growled in frustration, and shouted, "Kill her!"

The mantis roared and charged toward Starfire, swinging its right pincer at her. She flew out of its range and shot it with her starbolt, but no mark showed her attack was effective on its exo-skeleton.

Kitten pet its neck. "Made sure my pet here had a tough carapace, more importantly, able to deflect energy attacks, likes yours!"

"Man, where's a can of Raid when you need one?!" Lynx remarked, dodging the mantis's swipe.

"Just give it up! Neither of you are a match for my pet, he'll be the end of you for sure!" Kitten boasted confidently.

Starfire gritted her teeth and flew as fast as a rocket at the bug, but she didn't hit the mantis. Kitten didn't have time to react as Starfire punched her off the back of the huge bug. Kitten landed on her back on the ruined balcony.

Kitten groaned in pain and sat up slowly. "Fucking whore, I'll get you for that!"

The mantis roared and launched up into the air. It zoomed up at Starfire, slashing at her. Starfire dodged the thing with a few aerobatics techniques, but just barely. The thing was as fast as it was tough.

Kitten was enjoying the show too much, that she forgot about Lynx, who was sneaking up behind her. Just when she realized something was amiss, it was too late. He grabbed her, pinning her arms to her sides.

"Okay, nut, call off the bug or I'll rip your arms off," Lynx growled.

Kitten tried struggling, but his arms were too strong for her to break free from. He held her fast and securely to himself, not caring that she was kicking him or trying to head butt him.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Kitten yelled fanatically. "I've got to have Robby-Poo! I have to!"

Lynx's ears perked up as shock dawned in his eyes from her. He maneuvered his arms so now he held both her arms in one. Using his now free arm, he pushed her head to the side to bare her neck. Gleaming like two nasty spots on her neck were fang marks.

"Robin bit you, didn't he?" Lynx deduced in horror. "Oh, shit…he made you a-!"

"Lynx, watch out!" Starfire warned.

Lynx pushed away from Kitten in time to miss his head from being severed from his shoulders by a pincer. He rolled backwards and pushed himself back to his feet, then jumped to the side as the mantis turned around and swiped at him again.

"Dammit!" Lynx cursed. "Sin is not going to be happy about this…"

Starfire sailed down next to him. "What will Sin not be happy about?"

"Robin. When he bit Kitten, he unknowingly turned her into a Sanguina!" Lynx replied.

"A what?" Starfire asked, looking confused.

"A person enthralled to the vampire that bit them," Lynx answered. "They'll do whatever the vampire orders them to do, if you've seen or read Dracula, think of Renfield, that's a Sanguina or Sanguin if the person was a male."

"I haven't seen nor read about Dracula, is this Renfield a bad person?" Starfire asked.

Lynx would have answered her, but the mantis came at him with both its pincers, cracking the floor even more on the spot he had just occupied. It looked puzzled and tried to find where he went, but he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Up here, buggy!" Lynx said.

The mantis looked up just as Lynx came down from the air above it and slashed at its face with his claws. It hissed in pain and tried to slash at him, but he jumped out of its reach. Lynx examined his claws, finding yellowish-green fluid dripping off them. He looked up and saw that he had taken out one of its eyes.

"It's always the eyes," Lynx chuckled. "I got this bug's…OWW!"

Kitten had jumped on his back at that moment and bit his shoulder.

"Bad kitty! Bad kitty!" Lynx shouted, trying to throw her off. "No squeaky toy for you, get off!"

Starfire spotted Lynx's predicament and an instant rage overtook her.

"GET OFF MY MAN!" Starfire roared, and dove down from the sky, eyes glowing with emerald fury.

She grabbed the back of Kitten's collar with her good hand and yanked her off of him. Although, by doing so, Kitten's teeth caused more damage to his skin, causing a sprout of blood to shoot out a bit.

"Thank you…" Lynx groaned, adding pressure to the wound with a hand.

Starfire immediately dropped Kitten and rushed over to him. "Oh Lynx! Please, forgive me! I didn't mean to cause you harm!"

"I'll be fine, I've taken worse, remember?" Lynx replied, moving his hand to reveal the bite mark was almost sealed.

"You heal as fast Sin does!" Starfire said in awe.

"…Not really," Lynx replied. "If it's a normal wound, I can seal it up pretty quick, but if it's a wound to an organ…that takes a longer."

"Good to know!" Kitten smirked. "Cut off his head, my pet! Try healing from that!"

The mantis, even in its wounded state obeyed without falter. It shrieked in fury and stalked over to them faster than either of them could move. Lynx managed to jump clear away from it, thanks to his inhuman speed and reflexes, but Starfire wasn't so lucky. One of its pincers smacked her. Unfortunately, it struck her bound up arm, causing pain to shoot through her and rip a scream from her before hitting the side railing, unconscious. The scream ripped through Lynx, too, only in a different way…

"Heh, heh! That's what you deserve for keeping me from my Robby-Poo," Kitten said with a wicked smile, then laughing insanely. But she was soon startled when a roar filled the air. She looked over at Lynx. "Ah, what the?"

His form was changing. He grew two feet taller and his muscles doubled in size and silver fur began to grow out from his skin, along with what looked like white goo as his skin cracked and peel off. Black claws grew longer and thicker out of the ends of his fingers as they expanded into paw-like hands. All but his pants remained intact as he changed, the rest of his clothes were stretched out beyond their limit and fall off him. The ears on top of his head space out more to the sides of his head as his face extended out into a muzzle and his hair shrank away into fur. Whiskers sprang out along with a pair of sharp teeth and a pair of glistering fangs.

Kitten slowly backed up away from the beast now standing before her. "What the hell are you?"

The half-beast growled ferociously. "A wereleopard. One whose girl you shouldn't have harmed!"

Kitten cringed, but took a step forward. "Don't think I'm gonna be scared of you because you grew some fur! You'll still end up as bug chow!"

The corner of Lynx's muzzle snarled up in what may have been considered a grin. Before the mantis could move in to attack, Lynx ran at it, moving like a silver blur before he struck the side of its triangular face with his foot. The mantis sailed over the railing and onto the street below.

Lynx stalked over to Kitten with one foot, kicked her feet out and pinned her to the ground with it. "You're too dangerous to leave alone. I'm taking you to Sin. He'll know how to handle you."

"Get your stinking foot off me!" Kitten hissed, struggling to get free.

Lynx stared down at her blankly. "Maybe I'd be doing everyone a favor and let you turn into a—!"

Something struck him from behind, knocking him off Kitten. He flipped in the air and landed on the railing. When he looked back, he saw the mantis standing over Kitten protectively, eating a piece of metal, and its wounded eye had healed itself, but…it was metal now.

"What the? What kinda bug is that?" Lynx wondered.

"A bio-nano one," Kitten answered, getting back to her feet. "A little something extra that _I_ added that daddy never would have thought of." She patted its forward right leg. "Crawling inside this beauty are tiny mechanical drones that work together to make my mantis an unstoppable wonder of genetics. They're also the reason I was able to make his carapace able to reflect energy attacks. They gather together to make a strong and reflective armor. And even repair any wound he may receive."

"Then why is its eye made of metal now?" Lynx asked, arching his back and readying to pounce.

"…That's one side-effect I couldn't fix quite right," Kitten admitted. "Whenever a creature with my nano-bugs get too banged up, they cause the creature to devour metal and they use that material to reconstruct the wounded area."

Lynx cursed inwardly, but then grinned. "So…Its half made of metal, huh?"

Kitten grunted. "Duh!"

Lynx flexed his right paw-like hand, revealing his claws and ran them over the metal railing. Electricity ran out of his claws and crackled as it was conducted though the railing.

"Here's a little fact for you, babe. One out of ten lycanthrope are blessed with the ability to control certain elements," Lynx said. "And how unfortunate for you to run into one that just happens to be able to control electricity."

Kitten snarled at him. "Like any good it will do you! My bug's armor will protect him, even from electricity!"

"Let's find out, shall we?" Lynx said and dashed at the bug, raking his energy crackling claws over its flank.

The mantis let loose a roar of agony. It back swiped at him, but he jumped away fast enough to avoid it.

"Metal conducts electricity, even if it can reflect it, its organic parts will still feel the effect," Lynx said.

"Curse you!" Kitten roared and out from the back of her shirt, she pulled out a gun.

Lynx rolled his eyes. "That's not gonna do anything to me, babe. I know you weren't expecting to take on a wereleopard, so that gun doesn't have the right bullets to do me any serious damage."

Kitten raised the gun up. "Who said I was going to use this on you?"

"What?" Lynx muttered, and then it stuck him.

He was standing on the opposite side of the mantis, where Starfire was still on the other side…

"No!" Lynx roared and ran to stop her.

But he was too late. Kitten already squeezed the trigger and a bullet went flying toward Starfire. To a wereleopard, it was all in slow motion. Lynx could see the bullet escaping the chamber and ripping through the air at it made its way at Starfire. At the last second, Lynx ran around Kitten and threw himself in the path of the bullet, taking it in the gut. He fell instantly when the bullet halted his momentum and crashed down next to Starfire.

"Humph, I may not have the right bullets, but you'll still get weak from taking them all by shielding Starfire," Kitten said smugly. "When you've tired out enough, my pet will finish you both off."

"Like hell!" Lynx growled.

"Just die," Kitten said with an evil smile and fired at him again.

He moved back in front of Starfire, but he managed to keep the bullets from hitting his major organs or ripping through him and hitting Starfire.

"This is so much fun! It's like shooting fish in a barrel!" Kitten mused as she finished emptying her clip in him. She pulled out another clip and nodded her head at them, signaling for the mantis to attack.

Although, wounded, Lynx still was able to fight. The bullets would be annoying to deal with while they remained in his flesh, but he didn't have time to get them out. He guarded himself with his arms as the mantis came at him and struck him with its left pincer. The force of the blow threw him back and rammed him into Starfire through the broken railing and the two sailed down to the street below.

Acting fast, Lynx grabbed Starfire and swung her above him so his body could take the blow from the fall. They fell and crashed on top of a car, crushing it with their combined weight. But it was at that time that Starfire awoke screaming painfully and jerking around in his arms. He first thought that he didn't positioned himself well enough to keep her from landing on her broken arm…but then he discovered it was far worse.

Upon impact, his left claw had ripped and gashed at her exposed waist. She was bleeding everywhere, but the threat of blood loss was not what he was concerned about.

"Starfire!" Lynx cried and gently withdrew his claws from her flesh, causing her to cry out again in pain and making his heart ache. He carefully got himself out of the crushed car and lay her down on the sidewalk. "Starfire! I'm sorry! I'm so damn sorry!"

From the balcony, Kitten looked down and shrieked with laughter. "Hah, hah! Some hero you turned out to be! Couldn't keep her safe from a simple fall! MAHahahahaha!"

Lynx glared up at her with a primal fury glowing in his golden eyes. "Damn bitch!"

He got back to his feet as lightning crackled over his arms and he jumped up, dashing high over the balcony and above Kitten and the mantis.

Kitten extend a finger and pointed at him. "Get him, then finished off the girl."

The mantis roared and stretched out its wings and took flight after Lynx. He snarled at the approaching bug. Fueled by his animalistic rage, lightning danced all around him as he slowly stopped in the air and began to fall back down. His claws glowed with energy as he spin himself and shot down at the mantis like a living missile.

" _ **Lightning Ripper!"**_ Lynx roared.

He zoomed past the mantis. His claws slashed at blinding speed over its thick exoskeleton and generated enough electricity through the thing to fry its inner organs and all the nano-bugs in it. The dead mantis plummeted to the street below and smashed into a huge pile of yellowish-goo and broken limbs.

Lynx landed agilely behind Kitten—which was remarkable for his size—and grabbed Kitten by the neck and lifted her up.

"I should kill you…" Lynx snarled, baring his fangs.

"Arh…Go ahead, it hurts! It hurts to not be near him," Kitten mourned. "I-I can't get him out of my head. I see him every time I close my eyes. I can't live without him!"

A spark of sympathy returned him to his human consciousness. He retook control of himself and pushed his inner beast to the back of his mind. He slowly lowered her, but he still kept a hold on her.

"I'm going to get you some help," Lynx stated coldly, and then let go of her and knocked her out with a light karate chop, any more and he could have ripped her head off. Very tempting. He picked her up and swung her over his shoulder and jumped down to the street next to Starfire. He got out her T-com. "Anybody pick up!"

Beast Boy appeared on the mini-screen. "Here, Starfire. What's the…WHOA! Who are you and what did you do to Starfire!"

Lynx growled in frustration. "It's me, Lynx."

"Lynx? Wow, man, you look…uh, furry," Beast Boy uttered awkwardly.

"Forget that! Starfire and I were attacked by some fruitcake named Kitten, and Starfire is wounded!" Lynx snapped. "Now get Sin or Raven to teleport out here, now!"

"You got it!" Beast boy confirmed and turned off his T-com.

Lynx sighed heavily and dropped Kitten uncaringly onto the sidewalk and kneeled down to Starfire. His body began to slowly change back, shrinking and joints popping back into their original state. All his fur retracted, as did his muzzle and whiskers. Under less than a minute, he was back to his normal state picking up Starfire very gently and cradling her in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Star, I'm sorry," Lynx whispered, crying in her hair, making her shining red hair glitter like the stars looking down at them with tears of their own.

A ripple appeared in the air appeared next to them and Sin stepped out.

"What happened?" Sin asked seriously.

Lynx looked up at him with a lost expression. He moved his hand, the hand he was using to apply pressure to her gashes, the same hand that caused them. That was all he needed to do.

"Give her to me," Sin said, but it sounded more like an order.

Lynx picked her up and handed her to him. Sin took her and waved a hand over her face. She instantly fell asleep. He almost stepped into a shadow until he spotted Kitten on the ground. He glared at her furiously, but then recognition lit up in his angry crimson eyes.

"Grab her, she's coming with us," Sin said.

Lynx picked her up and followed Sin into the shadow and stepped right into the Titan Towers' Infirmary. Sin had just set Starfire down on one of the beds when everyone, except Speedy stormed in.

Robin rushed over to them. "What happened out there and why is Kitten here?"

"Star and I were just eating at the Pizza Plaza when this bitch and a huge ass bug showed up," Lynx answered, but his voice sounded distant. "I…didn't expect the bug to be a serious problem, but it knocked Starfire out and…and…"

"And what?" Robin asked, feeling a deep pit of dread in his stomach.

Lynx raised his blood-covered hand up. "We fall, I tried to protect her from the fall…but I forgot to retract my claws…"

Raven looked over at them from Starfire's bed. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Sin interjected. "That Starfire has been infected."

"Infected?" Cyborg uttered.

"Yes…by me," Lynx said grievingly. "I infected her."

"With what?" Beast boy asked.

Sin grunted. "Get that wax out of your ears, elf! Starfire was infected by Lynx, who is a wereleopard, do the math."

Robin stared at Lynx, then back at Sin. "You're saying that Starfire will become a…"

"I'm hoping not," Sin replied quickly. "Most people have a slim chance was becoming wereleopards when they are clawed or bitten. Don't ask me why, but its true, but if it were a werewolf, she'd definitely be infected."

"So there's a chance that she's still okay?" Cyborg hoped.

Sin didn't reply. He examined her wound with a frown on his face. "I'm not an expert when it comes to infected people. This wound is seriously deep." He glanced at Lynx. "Were you in your beast form when you did this?"

"Halfway…" Lynx answered.

Sin cursed loudly.

"Can't we cure her?" Beast Boy asked. "I mean, I was when I got sprayed by those chemicals."

"That's different!" Sin snapped. "Those were man-made chemicals, so it would be easy for you to be cured. Lycanthropy is a not curable, just as Nosferatu are not. It's permanent. I can't lay it any thicker than that."

"Then how can we help her?" Robin asked.

"None of you can," Lynx answered, walking over to the bed. "We just have to hope and see if she is or not."

"How long will that be?" Beast Boy asked.

"The next full moon," Lynx replied, kneeling on one knee and taking Starfire's hand into his own.

Sin and Raven healed Starfire's wound as best they could and bandaged it up. Sin noticed the wereleopard's state and reminded him to get the bullets that were still in his flesh, out. Everyone watched as Lynx leaned his head back and growled lowly, as he did; the bullets began to be pushed out of his flesh like a human body would with a splinter, only in fast forward. With the bullet gone, his flesh began repairing itself. After that, Sin motioned for the others over to Kitten, leaving Lynx alone with Starfire.

"We have another major problem to deal with, thanks to you, Robin," Sin said, walking over where Lynx put Kitten.

"Me? What did I do," Robin asked.

"It was unintentional, I know this, but when you bit Kitten, you turned her into a Sanguina," Sin replied, staring down at the unconscious brat.

"A what?" Robin uttered.

"A Sanguina. A blood servant," Sin replied, resting a hand on Kitten's forehead. "You drained her almost to death, but she still survived. But since you were also under the influence of your beast, it must have opened up a link between you and her. Because of that, a part of your mind was carved into her psyche, making her enthralled to you."

"Then that means Kitten is Robin's slave?" Raven deduced.

"Exactly, but he didn't finish the process," Sin said.

"There's more?" Robin gawked.

"To make the person a Sanguina or Sanguin, the Nosferatu has to give some of his blood in return for the blood he or she took," Sin explained. "But since you didn't. She's slowly turning into a Ghoul."

"A Ghoul? Isn't that like a zombie?" Beast Boy asked.

"Yes, but Ghouls aren't totally mindless, they are able to think enough to hunt down their prey and even work in packs, but that's all. Nothing else matters except eating flesh. Also, they don't rot away into nothingness like a zombie would do," Sin replied.

"How do we help her then?" Robin asked.

Sin glanced at Robin with a frustrated and tired look. "You must give her some of your blood. That is the only way to keep her from converting into a Ghoul."

Beast Boy leaned over and elbowed Cyborg. "If you ask me, I think it would be an improvement."

Sin cracked a grin at that. "Yes, but we've got enough problems. We don't need to add a flesh-eating Ghoul, ex-Kitten running around loose."

"Yeah, even she doesn't deserve to lose her mind and become some hungry beast, that's a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone," Robin said, unclipping his armguard and rolling up his sleeve.

Sin picked up Kitten's left wrist and slit it open with his fingernail. The tip of Robin's finger darkened and changed into a claw and used it to cut a small line on his wrist. Sin took his wrist and pressed the wound over hers. On first contact, Kitten started jerking and groaning in pain. Sin held her down.

"Keep your wrist on hers until I tell you to let go," Sin said.

Robin nodded and held his wrist on hers. Sin had him keep his wrist on hers for two solid minutes, then he told him—to his relief—to remove his wrist. He licked the blood off as it healed, then rolled his sleeve down and put his armguard back on.

"Now what do we do?" Robin asked.

"You do nothing," Sin said. "…Unless you want to keep Kitten around as your Sanguina?"

The very thought gave Robin uncontrollable shivers. "No way!"

Sin chuckled and placed a tourniquet over Kitten's wrist. "I'll take her where she will be looked after." He placed his hand on her forehead again and she quickly fell silent again and slumbered peacefully.

"What's going to happen to her now?" Raven asked.

"She'll be given to another Nosferatu. I know one that's been looking ages for the right kind, and I think she will do nicely," Sin replied.

"So, she's going to be a slave from now on?" Beast Boy wondered.

Sin nodded his head slightly. "Yes and no. She will be bound to her master when another psychic mark is implanted in her, but besides that, she will still retain her individuality. Don't feel bad, Robin. This just might be the thing to keep her out of trouble."

"I doubt that," Robin grunted.

Sin chuckled some more. He looked over at Starfire's bed. "You all better get back to what you were doing…"

Robin understood that tone in his voice and started herding everyone out. Sin walked over to Lynx and crossed his arms over his chest.

"…I know," Lynx said, without looking up at him. "I messed up."

Sin sighed and kneeled down and sat on the ball of his feet. "What do you plan to do if she is?"

Lynx swiftly turned to face him. "Take care of her, of course!"

Sin held up his hands. "Easy now. I know what this means to you."

Lynx fell silent and return his gaze to the unconscious alien. "I didn't mean to let this happen, Sin. I should have been more careful."

Sin patted his shoulders. "Things happen, Lynx. You can't blame yourself for this."

"But I am the one to blame!" Lynx snapped. "If she is infected, then it will be my fault for the life she will have to live."

"But you're forgetting one thing," Sin said.

"What?" Lynx wondered.

"She'll have you to help her along the way," Sin said with a smile. "You've already vowed to do that I can see."

"Yes, I'm going to do everything I can to make this as easy as I can for her," Lynx said determinedly.

Sin smirked and ran a hand over the wereleopards head, messing up his hair. "Good."

A/N: Not as long as my last chapter, but I don't think anyone here will begrudge me for actually getting this update done faster than I did the last one. Hmm, so now Starfire is infected. Things are going to begin getting more complicated for the Teen Titans and Sin. What's going to happen to Starfire? Well...You're all just gonna have to keep reading to find out what is going to happen.

Thanks again for all your patience and I hope you all remember to leave a review. Till then…later!


	23. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans; if I did it would never be aired on public television again. I only own Sin, Lynx, Stefan, and the plot.

A/N: All right, here we are now, another update, as per asked. Yes, I know I take a long time to update my stories, and yes, I said I wouldn't be making excuses as to explain that, but I'm going to anyway. First off, I have a life to live away from my computer. I don't have enough time in the day to get everything done, because I've got college, I've got a house to take care of. And my mother had some surgery done to repair some muscle damage she got from working hours on end to support us and allow me to go through college, and my family comes before anything else, including fanfics.

Also, as much as I like working on fanfics, it doesn't make me any money. And I have some original stories of my own that I'm hoping will help me in that area. So unless anyone here reading my work can help me out there, then I'll be able to focus more on my fanfic stories. Till then, they'll come out whenever I get the chance to get them out. That's all I'm going to say and this will be the final time I do say this. All I ask is for your patience and no more _reviews_ telling me simply just to hurry. IF you want me to hurry than give me some better reviews. That will inspire me to work faster on these and get them out to you all, not just telling me to update or hurry.

A review like that just tells me as much about the person that sends them to me, not very concerned. Now, I'm not bashing. I've had a lot of recent reviews that have made me feel working on this story is still worth the effort.

Special recognition goes to _**Blackstar Ravenwing**_ for giving me the most support.

All right, I'm done talking for now. Let's get on with what you've all been waiting for…But before you do, one warning. This chapter does contain a lemon scene, short one, but still hot. For those of you who don't like lemons, skip it.

 **Primal Callings**

Starfire remained in bed for the rest of the day. Once or twice she would begin to stir restlessly, but Lynx would curl into the bed with her and hold her, quickly calming whatever troubled her. Sin had left with Kitten; he didn't come back till almost dawn to tell Robin that Kitten was in good hands now. When he asked Sin where he took Kitten, he'd reply simply: "In good hands."

Raven made regular check ups on Starfire hourly as Sin informed them to do. If Starfire was infected there was no telling what it would do to her alien anatomy. But Raven had little to do with Lynx by her side for all that time. He took little notice of her as she came in to check on her for the eighth time.

"How is she?" Raven asked, deciding to make conversation with him. He hadn't spoken at all since Sin left with Kitten.

"…She's changing, I can feel it," Lynx mourned.

"How do you know?" Raven asked.

"Her body is heating up higher than it was before…and her wounds," Lynx replied, pulling back the gauzes over her abdomen where he clawed her. They were almost gone, only a faint scar remained.

"She's healed this fast already!?" Raven said in astonishment.

"All wereleopards can heal this fast…" Lynx stated hollowly.

Raven grimaced. "Then, she is infected."

His ears drooped down to his skull and his tail curled around himself. "I made her into a monster…"

"It was an accident, you were trying to save her," Raven tried to reassure him.

"But I damned her!" Lynx shouted with sorrow.

Raven walked over to the bed and sat on the opposite side of Starfire. She looked down at the slumbering alien, seeing if she was in any discomfort. If she did, she didn't look it. Her face was at peace and she was curled up against Lynx.

"Lynx, you are the first person I've seen Starfire ever trust so completely other than Robin. She won't blame you for doing this to her," Raven said.

"I just don't want her to live a life I was forced to live," Lynx replied sadly, stroking the redhead's hair. "A wereleopard's life is not easy…not at all."

"Neither is any life, Lynx," Raven retorted. "We're raised with difficulties we must rise up and face. Being a half-demon, I understand how hard it is to keep living, knowing that at any moment I would be the end of everything…but."

"But what?" Lynx asked curiously, his ears perked up some.

"But I don't have that fear anymore. Thanks to my friends and loved ones, I no longer am afraid of my fate," Raven answered. "My friends have supported me from the beginning, even when they didn't know what I was, they still stood beside me. And now, I have Sin, who is like a father to me and I have Robin to share my life with."

Lynx sat there, stroking Starfire's hair, taking everything he heard under deep consideration.

"…I never had any friends, not until Sin found me," Lynx said. "I've learned to live with what I am a long time ago…I just never wanted to place someone else in that same situation. I didn't want to do this to the one I cared for…"

"Lynx…can I ask you something?" Raven asked, changing the subject. She didn't want to ignore his obvious pain, but there was something that has been bugging her lately.

"Sure," Lynx replied, only too glad to change the subject.

"Do you know what would happen if some other Nosferatu ever got to me?" Raven asked.

Lynx averted his eyes from hers. "I do…"

"Can you tell me?" Raven asked.

"I could…but you're not going to like it," Lynx replied.

"Please, tell me," Raven said.

"Why are you asking me this now?" Lynx wondered.

Raven got off the bed and walked over to the window and watched as the sun slowly rose up over the city.

"…I've noticed some peculiar people following me as of late…in my dreams. I see them lurking in allies and empty buildings, planning something," Raven replied, holding herself. "I know they're planning on getting a hold of me."

Lynx looked up in alarm, his ears pressing against his skull. "Like hell they will! Not as long as Sin is still around!"

Raven turned her head to him. "I know…but I need to know exactly why they want me so badly. It can't be just simply because my blood will grant them immunity from the sun, can it?"

Lynx remained silent and that was all she needed to answer her question.

"…Raven, it isn't really you that they're after. It's…" Lynx fell silent when he caught a familiar scent by the window.

Sin stepped out of a shadow over there, but remained there out of the morning rays. "It's nothing you need concern yourself with, Raven. They won't get you."

"But why!? I need to know," Raven stated firmly. "You know more than you've told us." She walked right up to him. "Am I not your daughter?"

"Yes, Raven…you are that indeed to me," Sin confirmed.

"Then why are you keeping this a secret from me?" Raven demanded.

"Because it could very well be false," Sin replied. "As I've said, I wasn't sure if your blood was what caused Robin's immunity to sunlight…and this, I cannot be sure of, either."

"Be sure of what?" Raven pressed him.

Sin sighed. "Please, do not ask me to tell you…not right now. It would be too much for you to bear if you knew; you just have to trust me on this."

"Sin…I love you as much as any daughter can for their father, and you have been there for me as one since I first met you," Raven said, and placed a hand on his arm. "I need to know what I'll be facing if by chance it is real."

She watched as he lowered his head in defeat and slowly gazed at the changing sky. "You do have a right to know…" For once, he looked very tired to Raven. Really tired. As if he was drained from something. "Remember when we fought Trigon? Remember what he said he planned to use you for?"

"Yeah, but I wish I could forget. He wanted to get me pregnant," Raven replied, shivering inwardly.

"With Robin's help, correct?" Sin said.

"…Yes, but what does…" It was then that it dawned on her.

"If such a unity between a Nosferatu and someone of demonic origin were to ever conceive a child, that child would be unlike anything this world has ever seen," Sin said.

"So, how could the other vamps use Raven's kid? I mean, she's not pregnant right now," Lynx said.

"It doesn't have to be Robin who does it," Sin replied.

"You mean…they'll make me pregnant," Raven said in silent terror, looking at his face for confirmation.

Sin didn't meet her eyes. "Yes…"

"But…But why make me have a child?" Raven wondered.

His jaw tightened a fraction and his grin was long gone.

"Sin, tell me. I have to know the rest," Raven pleaded, a tear forming in her eyes.

"As I've said, if a child of such heritage is ever born, that child will be stronger than any creature existing…but there is another part," Sin said. He closed his eyes and wrapped his jacket around himself. "That on the moment the child is born; its blood would grant any Nosferatu who consumed it, true immortality."

Raven felt her legs about to give out, but she somehow managed to keep from falling. Her breathing was becoming hard for the lump that was quickly forming in the back of her throat. She thought she was prepared for whatever he said, but she was too overwhelmed.

"They would do this to a child, just for the chance to live forever completely?" Raven whispered in horror.

Sin wanted to do nothing more than hold her right then. Problem was she was two feet from him and in the sunlight, so he settled with gazing at her eyes. "There are many who would do anything to gain immortality, even kill a baby if it means cheating death."

Raven closed her eyes to keep herself from crying. She wrapped her arms around herself and prayed silently to Azar. When she was sure she wasn't going to cry, she opened her eyes to see Sin at the edge of the shadows. Realizing his predicament, she walked out of the light and rested her forehead on his chest. He comforted her and held her close to him.

"Then if Robin and I ever had a child…its life would be in danger," Raven mourned, then looked sharply up at Sin. "I could be…!"

Sin touched her face to silent her. "No, it's impossible for him to impregnate you right now."

"But we…" Raven pressed on only to be silent by him again.

"Nosferatu are sterile for most of an entire year," Sin said.

"Most of the year?" Raven echoed. "But there is a way, isn't there?"

"Yes…" Sin admitted. "On the last hour of a blood moon. Heh, heh! Humans think we're unable to drink blood at that time, because of that myth thinking it becomes poison to us, that's not true. We're too busy finding mates. Hah, hah!"

"Sin, this isn't something to laugh about!" Raven said sternly.

"Sorry, dear, I was trying to lighten the mood…blew it," Sin replied.

Raven giggled. "I appreciate it, though."

She was rewarded with one of his gentler smiles. He wiped away the tear slowly falling down her cheek. "Come now; let's not have any more tears. As I've said, this part of the legend could be false."

"Yet my child will still be hunted down by other Nosferatu in the hopes of what it will give them," Raven said sadly.

"Not if I have anything to do with it," Sin said determinedly. "And Robin will be there for you as well. Don't give up hope so soon."

"…You have us to look after you, too," Starfire said, opening her eyes slowly.

Lynx smiled happily, his ears perking up, and Raven rushed over to her. "Star! Are you feeling okay?"

"I am…" Starfire replied tiredly.

"How much did you hear?" Sin asked her.

"I've been awake for some time," Starfire said. She turned her head to look up at Lynx. "I do not blame you for what you did, it was unforeseeable."

"But I still feel guilty," Lynx replied, his ears lowering slightly.

Starfire smiled, even in her state, she couldn't help but think Lynx looked cute at that moment. She reached up and scratched those ears, putting him at ease as a soft purring sound rose up from him.

Sin chuckled quietly to himself. "Things have a way of working themselves out for the better, as it will for a crazy bunch like us. Hah, hah!"

"Speak for yourself," Speedy said from the doorway.

Sin narrowed his eyes at him. "I'd say look what the cat dragged in, but even a cat would have more sense not to get poisoned."

"Hah…Hah, you're so witty," Speedy growled, feeling perturbed.

"What do you want?" Raven asked dryly.

"I came to check up on Star…but I see she's okay and awake, so I'll just go," Speedy said, without so much as looking at any of them and left.

Raven scoffed and looked up at Sin whose eyes were glowing dimly.

"He's still an ass after all this," Raven stated bluntly.

"…So it seems," Sin replied.

"He'll never get that stick out of his ass, huh?" Lynx growled.

Sin grinned. "...I think they'll be hope for him...just later on."

Raven gave Sin the most skeptical look she could muster. "In all honesty, Sin...I highly doubt it..."

Sin chuckled lightly. "You never know with some people."

Her look never faltered.

Sin chuckled some more and turned to Starfire. "Star...I want you to keep what you heard from the others...mainly Robin," He glanced at Lynx and Raven. "That goes for you two as well."

"But why? Surely, Robin deserves to know about this...I mean, he is Raven's lover," Starfire said.

"Robin has enough worries on his plate right now...knowing about what the other Nosferatu will do to her if they get their hands on her won't help him at all," Sin replied.

"Robin should know, keeping information from him and the others isn't going to solve much, Sin," Raven retorted.

"Then I'll leave it up to you to tell him, it would be more appropriate if it were you," Sin replied, looking even more tired.

"Sin...are you all right?" Raven asked concern fully.

"I am...I've just been taxing myself as of late...I need to rest," Sin replied wryly. "I will see you all tonight..."

He disappeared in a shadow and was gone.

"That was odd," Lynx uttered.

"What is?" Raven asked him.

"Sin…He's never willingly giving into explaining something so important like that before. Things must be really bad if he's this worried and exhausted," Lynx replied.

Raven looked back out the window and watched as the sunrays played over the glittering sea. "These are going to be hard times for us all…And I think Sin is planning on bearing it all on himself."

"We cannot allow him to carry such weight," Starfire said. "He has helped us from the night he saved Robin; we have to do what we can to help him."

Raven turned and looked at Starfire out of the corner of her eye. "I think more is needed than we can grasp, Star. There's just too much that I'm sure Sin isn't telling us and probably is better if he doesn't…" She hugged herself and let her cloak wrap around her. "…What he just said now was more than I could bear to hear."

"Likewise…" Robin said from the door.

Raven gasped. "Robin!"

Lynx snorted a laugh and said to Starfire, "Everyone is sneaking around here. No privacy at all around this place, I swear."

Starfire giggled but quickly stifled it when she caught the look in Robin's eyes. He walked over to Raven and hugged her affectionately.

"I'll die before I let any other Nosferatu touch you, this I vow," Robin said determinedly.

Raven broke down in his arms and cried silently. She let him hold her and give the comfort she so needed right now. Robin stroked her hair, whispering more words of encouragement in her ear until she stopped crying.

"You need some rest, you haven't slept all night," Robin said.

"Stay with me…even when I sleep, I don't want to be alone. They don't try to invade my dreams when you're near me," Raven said.

"I'll always stay with you," Robin replied devotionally, he looked over at Lynx and Starfire. "I'm glad that you're awake, Star…and I'm sorry."

Starfire smiled sadly. "It couldn't be helped. I understand that."

Robin stared at her for a moment longer, pondering. When they first found out vampires existed, Starfire was scared out of her wits about them. He thought she'd be the same around a wereleopard like Lynx, but she was the complete opposite. She accepted it as a fact as she used to with all people she met. And now she was probably becoming a monster like himself and not bothered by it, funny how irony works its games. He pushed any farther thoughts about it aside and led Raven to the door.

"Good day," Robin said, and he and Raven left.

Lynx and Starfire stayed silent as the two exited the Infirmary. Starfire sat up somewhat and leaned onto Lynx's chest.

"Things are changing, aren't they?" Starfire mourned.

"That's life, babe," Lynx stated, hugging her. "We just got to take the lumps we get along the way."

"But it seems so…hard at times," Starfire said. "Even harder to see your friends in so much pain and not be able to do anything."

"That's not true," Lynx reprimanded. "They know you care and will do anything for them, that's enough."

"But I wish I could do more for them," Starfire replied sadly.

"Hey, we all want to do more for those we care for, but you got to remember one thing," Lynx said.

"What's that?" Starfire asked.

"You got to remember to live your life, too," Lynx answered, smiling. "If you keep putting others' troubles on you, then you'll never sort out your own and just be a grumpy old prune like Speedy!"

Starfire giggled loudly and punched him lightly on the chest. "That wasn't a very nice thing to say about him…but I have to agree. He does act the part of the prune."

Lynx laughed some. "What did you see in that guy to begin with? He's so uptight and into no one but himself."

Starfire lowered her face from him and curled into his embrace. "…I wanted to be with Robin so much, Lynx. I still love him; a part of me will always still love him. But I was too frightened at the time of what he had become and I didn't have the strength to remain with him without his ordeal." She hated herself so much for that. It still plagued her that she ran out on him when he was so desperate for understanding from her. But she fled from him, out of a fear that she couldn't control, and for that, she knew she didn't deserve him anymore. "At the time, Speedy was the only one that gave me comfort and understood my fears. What I didn't realize was his unbound anger and misconception of Sin and vampirism."

"You say Sin's name like it has nothing to do with vampirism, and he's the most vampiric guy I know," Lynx remarked.

"I don't see him as one. Yes, I've seen him kill and take joy from it as his kind seem to love, and I know he must drink blood," Starfire replied. "But as I got to know him better, I don't see him as just a vampire, I see something there that goes beyond it, I just cannot place my finger on it. Sin is so much an enigma to me."

"Babe, you just said a mouth full with that last statement," Lynx chuckled.

"I guess…" Starfire sighed.

Lynx started tickling her with his tail to lighten her mood. He attacked her unguarded midriff and she busted out with laughter and tried to protect herself from his tail, but he'd just move it to another part of her bare skin. She kept pushing it away, but he kept on coming at her with it. Just when she thought he'd stop, he tickled her nose and she giggled and sneezed all at once, causing her to laugh more.

"I really like it when you're laughing," Lynx admitted to her kindly.

She felt that same warmth rush through her as she blushed. "…Thank you for helping me laugh again. I've almost lost it."

"No prob, cutie," Lynx replied happily and then looked at her seriously. "Star, there's something I have to ask you."

Starfire nodded. "What is it?"

"Well, I just wanted to know if you would…" he reached into a pocket in his cargo pants as he said it.

Starfire watched his actions and was feeling lightheaded. She didn't think he'd move this fast! She loved him, yes, but she wasn't sure about marriage so soon…at least maybe another month, but then they may not have as much time as she would want with everything that was happening. For all she knew, these next few weeks could be the last, and she didn't want to have any regrets and she believed it would be nice to be married to someone before her time had gone, even if it wasn't Robin who she originally hoped it would be, she wasn't the least bit upset that it was Lynx about to ask her this very important question.

He withdrew his hand from his pocket with his fist closed gently and raised his hand up to her. She waited anxiously for him to say those little words that would change her life forever. He opened his mouth and said…

"…Well, I was wondering, would you like a Twinkie?"

Her face dropped and her eyes stared at him blankly. He was smiling at her, holding out a Twinkie in his hand for her to take.

Starfire sighed and laughed at herself for pointing her hopes so high. "Sure, Lynx. Thank you for the creamy filled treat," she said, and took the Twinkie.

"You're welcome!" Lynx replied with a cheery smile.

Starfire giggled at him and ate her Twinkie…and fell in love with it!

"Mmm! This is wonderful! I've eaten these earthling treats before but this time it taste grand! What kind of Twinkie is it?" Starfire asked eagerly.

"Just any kind you can get in any grocery store," Lynx replied simply.

"Oh?" she stared at the half-eaten Twinkie. "It just tastes so good…"

"That's to be expected. You're senses are getting sharper and…being feline based, you're gonna come to like dairy products, like these," Lynx replied.

"Oh," Starfire said again and quickly ate the other half of the Twinkie. "Mmmm…"

"I've got some more if you want another," Lynx said.

"Really!" Starfire said excitedly and pounced on him, trying to get her good hand in one of the many pockets of his cargo pants.

"Ah! Hey! Watch what you grab…Wait, wait…a little more to the left…that's it," Lynx said, crossing his eyes.

Starfire found some more and pulled them out and devoured them happily. Lynx laughed and rolled on the bed in a cat-like manner with him on his back and looking up at her with his head curled slightly next to his left shoulder.

"I see I'm gonna have to get more, if not just for me but to compensate for you! Although, I rather like a hot alien girl trying to get into my pants!" Lynx snickered.

Starfire blushed and giggled lightly. Lynx snickered some more and rolled back on his knees and rubbed her face. In reaction, she kissed his cheek. He pulled away from her and stared into her eyes. She felt a flutter in her stomach from the intensity in his eyes.

"You're so beautiful…" Lynx said affectionately. "And I'm not just saying that for brownie points. I've seen lots of girls in my travels in the work for Nosferatu, but none of them can compare to yours. I'm talking about a rare beauty, the kind that is in both your spirit and your body."

Starfire was so overwhelmed. All she could do was stare back into his golden eyes. He guessed that words were failing her and he couldn't think of anything better to say himself after that, but he knew he had to do something. And he knew just what that was. He cupped her face in one hand and leaned forward and kissed her.

That was exactly what Starfire wanted him to do. She ached to feel those soft lips now pressed against hers and discover his taste. Her mind spun dizzily from the taste of cream and masculine, and she swoon toward him, pressing forward and tilting her head up as he stood on his knees and kissed down.

Heat, that was what came next for her; the kind of heat that she left every time she was in such an intimate embrace. She loved it and feared it. She may feel a moment of comfort and affection, but she never been satisfied from it. It wasn't like she was obsessed with having sex, it was more of denying herself any with her previous relationships out of fear of hurting them physically. But she wanted so badly for that need to go away and stop plaguing her. She's tried ending it herself, in privacy, but it only urged her true desire for another. As much as she wanted to satisfy that craving, she didn't have the nerve to try it with Lynx…she may just end up hurting him like all the others.

Lynx on the other hand seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. Her body was releasing pheromones telling him she was excited. He pushed her onto her back and ended the kiss by biting her bottom lip, careful not to draw any blood with his fangs. She quivered from the slight pain and pleasure that simple maneuver invoked. He let go of her lip and moved his left hand skillfully down over her chest, between her breasts, past her bare toned abs and reached down and rubbed his hand against her inner thigh.

"Lynx, I…!" He killed her words with another kiss.

He pulled back enough to reply, "I know, you fear your strength, but I'm much stronger than I look, too!"

To prove his point, he pulled one of her legs up and flipped onto his shoulder with ease. She was both shocked and embarrassed as the sudden position lifted her purple skirt up and revealed her red panties.

"Ooo, someone's been to Victoria's Secrets, haven't they?" Lynx teased.

"Are they not good?" Starfire asked bashfully.

"Hell, no! They're hot!" Lynx quickly replied.

Starfire tried to hide her blush by looking away. Lynx smirked at her bashfulness and got back to his work. He pushed her skirt up farther and slid his hand inside her panties. She gasped and sat up in alarm, but was pushed back down by Lynx again.

She looked up at him unsurely. "Lynx, I've never done something like this before…not without hurting someone…"

Lynx widened his smirk. "You can do whatever you want to me, I can take it. Just relax. You're in excellent hands. This is all for you, Starfire, all for you."

Her reluctance was cast aside as he slid one finger inside her.

"Oh, Lynx…ah!" Starfire moaned, rolling her head back.

Lynx pushed his finger in deeper, exploring her secret gate to find the spots that would make her go crazy. Being an alien, he wasn't sure if she would respond to his touch like other women, but she was. He knew by the way she was squirming and her leg over his shoulder was squeezing him like a vice, but nothing he couldn't handle. To him it was like how a normal human would gently squeeze someone while being pleasured. His own excitement was making itself known as his pants began to bother him, but he ignored his desires, this was Starfire's time, and he wanted to do whatever he could for her.

Starfire moaned wildly and closed her eyes. She tried to hold herself back to keep from squeezing him to death, but the pleasure raking at her body kept making her want to move around! And yet, no matter how much she moved and squirm, Lynx didn't once groan out in pain or hear the sound of breaking bones. She was overjoyed! She let herself go and bask in the pulsing warmth rushing through her body. But before she could totally relish this experience, she had to do one thing.

"L-Lynx," Starfire moaned.

"Yes?" Lynx asked.

"Bite me," Starfire said.

Lynx thought she was joking, but the seriousness in her eyes said she wasn't.

"Why?" Lynx asked in curiosity.

"…I just wanted to know what it feels like to be bitten while being pleasured…on the neck," Starfire answered bashfully.

"Then your wish is my command," Lynx said, pushing her leg gently off his shoulder and leaning down to her neck without stopping his hand.

Starfire tilted her head to the side and waited nervously. He kissed her softly on the neck before baring his feline fangs and bit down gently. His bite wasn't like a vampires'. It would only cause her pain, so he had to be careful not to hurt her badly.

Starfire gasped and took in a sharp breath, but she wasn't in agony, the quite opposite for her. She was ecstatic! Sure it hurt as it should anyone being bitten on the neck by sharp fangs, but she didn't care. It made her livid with excitement that it made her want to scream with joy. And she would have if she didn't keep in mind that she might be heard by the others and ruin this moment. Never did she think she would find delight in pain during such an intimate moment. The feel of his teeth in her flesh made her wetter than she already was.

Lynx pushed another finger in her, hearing a satisfying moan break from her and feeling it vibrate through his mouth. He bit a little harder, only a little and licked up the small drops of blood coming from her wound like he's seen Sin do so many times with…

' _Hmm, I wonder when the big guy is gonna show her to the Titans?'_ Lynx wondered.

He would worry about that later, right now, he needed to give all his attention to the woman he gave his heart to. And he needed to stop biting her, because she was getting close and he would end up hurting her more if she came and he was still biting her. He withdrew his fangs from her neck and licked the wounds until the bleeding stopped. Good thing he did, too, at that moment. He felt Starfire's muscles begin to constrict his fingers.

Starfire loved the sensation. She wanted to stay like this feeling she has been craving for forever. Sadly, she was reaching her limit. Lynx was doing too good of a job. She came. All over his hand and on the sheets, and with it all her anxiety and frustrations, and then she collapsed in the bed, staring up at the ceiling with a daze expression.

Lynx pulled his hand out of her panties and licked the thick fluids on it. "Mmm, this is better than cream…"

She tried to make a reply but she was still too overwhelmed to speak. He smiled and kissed her tenderly. He reached over for a towel on the counter he was using earlier to wipe the sweat off her forehead, which now he used it to clean her off. Then he fixed her panties and pulled her skirt back down and laid down next to her.

"Get some rest now, Star. You need to get your strength back," Lynx instructed.

"But isn't it appropriate for me to return the affectionate pleasure you gave me?" Starfire asked.

Lynx shrugged. "That'd be nice, but I'm in no rush. This was for you and only you, cutie."

As odd as that sounded, it meant so much to her. He would put off his own desires just for her. That in itself made her love him more. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against his. He purred some and kissed her.

"Time for sleep, cutie. I'll still be here when you wake up," Lynx whispered to her.

She smiled warmly and curled up next to him and let sleep take her. Lynx stroked her hair until he was sure she was fully asleep and closed his eyes and joined her in the world of dreams.

Sleep was restful for most of the occupants of Titan Tower, save one…Raven.

In her room, she tossed and moaned in her sleep. Not even the closeness of Robin's presence gave her any source of safety that she used to always find in his arms. He was trying to wake her. But nothing he did could pull her out of the evident nightmare she was having.

There was one thing he hadn't tried and it was the one thing he never dare do with Raven, and that was read her mind. In her state, her mental defenses were weak enough for him to look into her mind if he wished.

He didn't see any other way.

With reluctant will, he peered into her mind with his inner eye, as Sin taught him. He passed through her defenses, which were very unstable at the moment. To him they looked like rippling water, with something constantly disturbing them, as a stone would when thrown into a pond of water. His sight traveled past her memories as carefully as he could be, he didn't want to accidentally read something she didn't want him to see. After a bit of searching he finally found the part of her mind that allowed her to dream, and when he got near it, he found he wasn't the only presence besides himself inside her mind. There were many!

Each one was stabbing there way into her mind, warping her dream into a harsh nightmare, and Robin guessed these nightmares were a foreshadowing of what they had in store for her. He saw images of Raven pinned to the ground with her clothes left in rags around her as a shadowy presence made itself known with its penetration above her. Another with a group holding her limbs to a wall with her back to them as one had its way with her, and as the ones holding her sucked her blood. There were far too many images to make out at once, and with each one that he did make out, a dark anger boiled in his blood, in his soul.

With a cry of anger in her mind, he opened his bond with Raven and his power flooded inside her and strengthened her defenses, stopping the rippling and returning them to a solid barrier. The other presences in her mind fled in fright from her as they sensed Robin's power and knew him for what he was. He followed them back to the city, seeing them lurking in empty buildings, in abandon sewer drains, in the very earth of graveyards. In his mind's eye, he floated above the city and saw below just how many Nosferatu were in the city, and in their hiding places, he could hear their thoughts echoing in the ether that surrounded all. It was hard to make them all out with his untrained mind, but he could make out one thing for sure; they all lusted.

It wasn't the lust for flesh. This kind of lust was deeper than that, the kind that drove someone to commit almost anything to satisfy it: power. They wanted the power that Raven could give them and they would kill anyone protecting her.

One felt so bold as to attack him in the ether, it lashed out at him with invisible claws. Robin pushed the being back with all his might, seeing how this Nosferatu was much more skilled in this than he was, but he succeeded; just barely. He withdrew when he sensed more coming at him. He pulled himself back into his body and found Raven staring up at him with pain and horror in her eyes. His own was burning in his wicked eye as their bond opened him to feel all that she felt, and it only helped to enrage him more.

"There are too many…" Raven whispered weakly, holding onto him desperately. "I…I couldn't keep them out."

Robin held her tightly, trying so much to give her back some sense of security after what her mind has been put through. He knew that even in the mind, a person can be very well traumatized by such a violation, even more by the consistence of it. It was a wonder of what was keeping Raven together.

"They're coming. Some of them are planning on coming tonight," Raven continued in her hush tone. "I saw it in their minds as they pillaged my mind…"

Robin eased her with a kiss on her forehead, using the bond to give her comfort with his love to strengthen her again.

"Then they're all going to die tonight," Robin stated in a dead tone. "None of them will see another night if they dare come for you."

Raven didn't say anything. She wasn't sure. There were so many! And they all wanted her and all were very powerful in their own right. Some young and old, but none older than a thousand. She couldn't tell how she knew this or why, she just knew that none of them were as old as Sin. That may have been a relief to know if there weren't so many of them waiting just beyond the roaring sea that separated them.

Robin heard all of this in her mind and raised her face up to his, dimming the harsh glow in his Evil Eye. "None of them will get you; I promise you this. Even if that means dying again, I won't let any of them have you."

Raven cried silently and pulled out one of his Birdarangs from his utility belt and held it tightly in her hands. "If you do die, we'll do it together…"

Fear raised in his throat as he knew just what her intentions were. He hoped to whatever entity that listened to the damned that his prayer may be heard and that they be safe and protected.

"It won't come to that, Raven," Robin replied, red tears rolling down his sadden face.

"But if it does, I don't want to be separated from you, not even by death," Raven said, staring into his mismatched eyes.

"…I understand," Robin replied. He placed his left hand over his heart and the fingers turned into black claws. "I'll rip my own heart from my chest if something were to happen to you."

She closed her eyes and kissed him deeply, as if it may be their last.

He didn't stop the kiss; he wanted to burn the feel of her lips into his very being so he may never forget them. His only regret was that this kiss was filled with pain and sorrow. If they somehow survived all of this, he would make sure that the next memorable kiss be full of affection and love.

The kiss unfortunately ended, and when it did, both knew what must be done.

Robin held her for a moment longer, and then removed himself from her arms and out of the bed. He straightened his clothes and started checking on his equipment. He never took back the Birdarang Raven held. He wanted her to keep it, as sad as the purpose made him. He gathered some more equipment and reloaded his utility belt to its maximum of Birdarangs and other various weapons, the ones that Sin made for him.

Raven, too, got out of bed and went to her closet. When she came out, she was wearing her cloak, only this one wasn't like any of her other ones. This one had a unique purpose for what was to come. This cloak had dozens of pockets sewn on the inside to hide various things from view. What were in those pockets, no one knew, except for her and she had hoped she never had to use them, but now she had no choice.

She put the Birdarang inside one of the pockets in her cloak and joined Robin at the window, where he was gazing at the setting sun.

"Ready…?" Robin asked.

"No, but we don't have enough time," Raven replied, wrapping her arms around his left arm.

Robin grimaced. "We better go before everyone wakes up…they don't need to get involved, let them have a few more hours of comfort…"

Raven looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You sounded like Sin just then."

Robin smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"It was," Raven smiled.

"I hope he wakes up soon, we're gonna need his help," Robin said worriedly.

"…He's been taxing himself, I'm not sure if he'll be able to handle all this," Raven informed.

"Then we'll just do the best we can to make that up for him," Robin stated. "Let's go…it's getting dark."

Raven enwrapped then both in her soulself and they traveled over the sea and into the graveyard. Why here? Because this was where Robin sensed the most of Nosferatu, this was where Raven found herself ravaged in her dreams so many times. And this would be where they chose to end them. Raven and Robin stood back to back, waiting for the first sign of movement.

"There waking up…" Robin warned.

"I sense them, but where are they?" Raven wondered.

"They're in the earth," Robin replied cryptically.

Raven's puzzlement was put to rest when she saw a patch of the soil by a grave begin to stir. A hand with twisted fingernails that could have been mistaken for claws rised up out of the ground and began pulling itself up to give way to a snarling Nosferatu. Its eyes locked on Raven and a smirk rose up on its sinister expression. Its unnerving gaze was joined by others as they crawled out of the earth from the graves they've taken for themselves.

In less than a minute, they were surrounded by a group of Nosferatu. Each with their eyes on Raven. Robin's Evil Eye flared as he sensed all that they felt, some didn't bother guarding their mind, giving freely the ideas they wanted to fulfill.

One walked up to the dark pair and addressed Robin. "Stand aside, whelp. You aren't able to keep me from my prize."

Robin stared down the Nosferatu with his best glare, which involved using his Evil Eye. It fired and blasted the Nosferatu's head. All of them watched in utter shock as the attack caused the once undead being's head to explode and spray its gory contents onto the tombstones and upturned soil before the body fell and turned into a heap of ash.

Robin turned his deadly gaze at all the other Nosferatu. "Still think I'm no match?"

Some of them didn't look as confident as they were before. One or two even began backing away from him and some flinched back when his gaze fell on them. A murmur rolled around among them:

"The Evil Eye!"

"He has the eye!"

Robin smirked as he soon drank in their fear of him and his eye. It filled him with an odd confidence that made him at most more attune with his nature.

' _This must be how Sin feels when he's fighting another Nosferatu. It's intoxicating!'_ Robin thought excitedly.

Raven spoke up. "Don't get cocky!" She sensed his overflowing confidence through their bond.

He snapped out of the 'high' and refocused his eyes on the shifting vampires. "Thanks…I almost let myself get distracted."

Raven kept her eyes on the moving Nosferatu. "Not a problem…"

Three of them moved out of the group and leapt into the air. Raven chanted her words and her cloak rose up to reveal a series of blades and needles she had stocked in the cloak's pockets. The needles turned black and they slid out from their containment and buzzed up and zoomed straight through the leaping vampires, causing them great pain as they found out the needles were made of silver. The two were covered in ash as the remains of the three Nosferatu rained down on them.

Robin batted the ash off his arms like dust. He then withdrew his Bo Staff and extended it with the blades snapping into visibility. "You're all going to die tonight!"

The Nosferatu surrounding them hissed at them and bared their fangs in rage and they attacked.

Robin disappeared from behind Raven, so fast; it was as if he just vanished from existence. Some of the Nosferatu halted in their charge to look for him. One kept on marching to Raven, who had her hood down and standing solemnly as it neared. It only stopped when something hummed in the air. It stopped but a foot from Raven when its head began to fall back and down to its feet, staring up at Robin with blood dripping of the end of his blade. The body disintegrated to ash.

The death of there own didn't stop the others from attacking. All it did was made them all the more vicious in their endeavor to have what they longed for. Robin moved with the blessed agility he had as a human. Becoming a Nosferatu had tripled that speed to where he may even be a match for The Flash himself. His blade danced around him in a rhythm of death for all who neared him and Raven. Raven joined in the fray with her needles and throwing knives she 'borrowed' from the collection Sin gave to Robin.

Ash and screams filled the air around them as more and more Nosferatu tried to best them. When the air had finally fell silent and the dust that used to be their enemies settled on the hallow ground, Robin and Raven stood in a circle of ash and bits of charred bones.

"…Is it over?" Raven wondered.

Robin turned to the side and his face tightened. "…I wish. But we still have _them_ to deal with."

Raven looked in the direction Robin was glaring at. She sent a probe out and felt another group of Nosferatu making their way to the graveyard, but these were much stronger than the ones they just fought. They had to be at least over two hundred her inner instinct informed her.

"This isn't going to end, is it?" Raven sighed.

"It will end, Raven. One way or another, we'll end this," Robin replied.

"Such deep words for a young one," a venomous voice said from the shadows.

It came from the same direction Robin and Raven were looking at, and to Raven's eyes, figures made from those shadows molded into six vampires. To Robin, they merely used the covering darkness like a veil to hide their presence until they willed to be seen.

The one that stood out the most to him was the one in the middle, the one smiling at them. It was a man dressed in black clothes, an assortment of a button shirt and leather pants and stubbed rimmed boots. His brown hair was cut short to his shoulders. The second one on his left was a woman, who was trailing her fingers up his arm. She was in a tight-fitting black outfit, with a collar that fanned out behind her as if to imitate the hood of a cobra, and she was quite bold on top. The one on his right was a wild looking boy, with long black hair that matted around his face with only the right side of it showing. The young one was dressed in a sleeveless top that only covered his chest, a pair of suspenders held up his black shorts and he was barefooted.

The one standing next to the bold woman was a grim looking man. He was so thin his bones showed through his pale skin and his red eyes were sunken in their eye sockets, staring at them wide with a wonder look in them. He had only a few stands of hair left. What was still present was grey and hanged in odd lengths around his scalp. He was in a ragged pair of pants and a white tunic and leather boots. Next to the wild boy was another woman, only she had hair, red hair, and it flowed down her back and tied at the end with a spiked hair clip, making the illusion of a deadly tail growing out of the back of her head. She had on a red bodice that squeezed her well rounded chest up for anyone to notice and laced red leather pants that made one wonder how she managed to squeeze into them with her curvy figure. On her head was a red bandanna and she had gold bracelets that reached from her wrists to her elbows. And the last one, the one standing high over them in the back, looked to be more of a beast than an actual man. He had two huge horns growing out of the mangled mess of dark brown hair on top and two smaller horns at the sides of his broad chin. He wore only grey trousers, his feet ended with claws that gave anyone the impression of a raptors'. As if that freakish feature wasn't enough, he had black talons at the end of his fingers and a thick reptilian tail with a spiky club at the tip.

Raven felt her body begin to quiver in fear at the sight of this strange lot. She inched behind Robin and placed a hand on his back.

"Them…They're the ones that keep breaking into my dreams," Raven whispered.

Robin glared at the Nosferatu standing in front of them. "Are they now?"

The man in the middle chuckled. "This is the brat that Sin has chosen to be his child? I'm not impressed."

The bold woman stroking his arm sneered. "Lasher, he has such a disgusting eye! I can't stand anything that's ugly, you know this."

The man addressed as Lasher patted her hand. "You won't have to look at it for long, Basher. He'll be joining the legion of Nosferatu he killed for us tonight."

"I wanna have her first, Lasher! You promised I could!" The young boy jumped up and down in excitement.

"You will when I say you can, but first we need to deal with the pest standing in our way," Lasher replied and snapped his fingers. "Masher, take care of him for us, will you?"

The anemic one nodded and disappeared and reappeared next to Robin. He didn't have enough time to block the leg that came up and slammed into his face and knocked him to the side, slamming into and breaking a tombstone.

"Hmph," Lasher grunted, giving Robin contempt look, then drew his eyes to Raven. "I've been looking forward to this, my pet. Did you like the dreams I sent you?"

Raven wrapped her arms around herself and took an unwilling step back from them.

"Hah, hah! Looks like she didn't," the red-haired one mused, crossing her arms under her breasts, the gesture forced her assets to become more noticeable.

Lasher shot her a glare, and then turned back to Raven. "If she did like it or not doesn't matter to me. The only thing that does is that she's ours for the taking."

"I…won't let you touch her!" Robin said defiantly, picking himself up from the ruined tombstone that had crumbled around him.

Lasher rolled his eyes and gestured with his hand at Masher. The thin Nosferatu grinned and disappeared again. This time, he reappeared on top of Robin and his hands grabbed his head and began slamming his face into the remaining pieces of the tombstone littering the area around him.

"Robin!" Raven cried.

She spoke her words, but at the last one, the young boy pounced on her and pinned her to the ground. She struggled but she was no match for his strength. The young boy roamed his visible eye over her body and licked her cheek.

"We're gonna have lots of fun you and I," the young boy snickered.

Raven rolled her face away from his gaze with disgust. He growled at her and slapped her.

"You'll look at me!" the young boy hissed.

"Smasher!" Lasher barked. "Don't harm her! She's too important to us to have her marked up so by your brutish fetishes."

Smasher looked over his shoulder and snarled at him. "I've waited long enough, I'm having her now!"

Lasher rolled his eyes again and sighed. "Fine, get it out of your system. But we need her alive and uninjured."

Raven panicked as Smasher locked his eye back on her and grinned savagely. "They'll be plenty of time for that later. I just want to know her."

"No! Get off me!" Raven pleaded.

Her fears rose in her being as she could feel the excited bulge in his shorts press against her leg.

"That's it! Scream! Plea for help, none is gonna come to your aid!" Smasher said in wild glee; as he reached down to free himself of the strain his shorts gave him.

Raven used her free hand to hit his face, but it was like smacking polished marble.

"Ooo, you're a spirited one!" Smasher said. "That's good; I like it when they struggle!"

"Please, don't…" Raven pleaded once more.

Smasher ignored her and reached down to rip the part of her leotard preventing his entry. She closed her eyes and cried sadly and waited for the inevitable.

"She said, get off her!" A booming voice roared in the darkness.

"Huh?" Smasher looked up and darted his gazed rapidly around.

A pillar of darkness rose up in front of him and towered over him. A fist shot out of that inky pillar and connected with Smasher's jaw and threw him off Raven. She shot up her eyes to stare in hope at the pillar, and it was reward when Sin stepped out of the pillar, looking very enraged. He picked up Raven and pulled her to his side, and then drew his attention to Masher and Robin. The thin freak let go of his fledgling and backed away to Lasher's side, leaving Robin groaning in pain and pulling out the pieces of stone that embedded themselves in his skin. Smasher fumbled back to his comrades, trying to pull his shorts back up in order.

"It's him! It's really him!" Smasher panicked, as he ran to hide behind the horned Nosferatu.

Lasher gave him a look to be silent. "So…You're the so-called Boogyman we've all been told to fear, eh?" he said, returning his gaze to Sin.

Sin didn't reply. He only eyed them dangerously.

Basher rolled with a giggle. "He's a handsome one, Lasher. He'd fit well in my collection of slaves."

Raven heard the crackling of bones and looked at Sin to see his hands tightening into a ball and blood leaking out from between his fingers. She looked at him worriedly and wondered what was going through his mind at that moment.

"Well? Don't you have something to say, oh demon of fear?" Lasher mocked. "Isn't there some phrase you have to make us all shake to the bone?"

Sin still didn't say a word. His eyes did all the talking for him.

Lasher cleared his throat. "This has gotten very boring and I won't waste any more time on something this boring. Smasher!"

Smasher jumped to his side and looked up at him anxiously.

"Deal with him, if you kill him quickly, I'll let you have the half-bitch for a few nights," Lasher said.

Smasher licked his lips and smiled savagely at the not-so-grinning Nosferatu. "You're a dead man, Sin!"

"Really?" Sin finally spoke up. "I died once and I've seen more sides of death than you could ever imagine, you little shit!"

Smasher cringed back from him.

"Smasher…" Lasher said in a warning tone.

"R-Right!" Smasher replied unsurely.

The wild boy leapt at Sin and his hands turned into claws and readied to tear Sin limb from limb. Raven tried to speak her words, but Sin placed his hand over her mouth. Her perplexity was overridden as Smasher came down on them like a hawk for a field mouse. What Raven didn't see was that upon Sin's face, his grin was slowly rising. His hand shot up and he placed his index finger right on Smasher's forehead as the wild boy came within his reach. He halted in mid-air and fell to his feet with Sin's finger still on his forehead. Smasher tried to move around. Nothing responded to his commands save only his eyes. They darted around desperately, trying to make sense of what was going on with his body.

"W-What did you do?" Smasher asked with panic clear in his voice.

Sin widened his grin. "So much…darkness in your soul, what's left of it that is."

"The fuck you talking about?!" Smasher shouted at him.

"You've done some unspeakable acts, Smasher," Sin replied, ignoring his question. "I can see it right in the center of your being; it pulses with the savagery you've inflicted on so many."

"You're fucking out of your damn mind!" Smasher hissed.

"You don't understand, it's because of this darkness in your soul that allows me to hold you steadfast like this," Sin replied with a chuckle. "You're screwed."

Basher leaned over to whisper in Lasher's ear. "I've heard of him doing this before…they say he can manipulate darkness, even in one's soul…"

Sin looked her way. "And they are right."

The bold woman stared at Sin in amazement, then snarled at him. "I'll teach you not to overhear what you're not meant to hear, my soon-to-be-slave."

Raven sensed a wave of anger come from her adopted father, again. Something in what the bold vampire said was really getting to Sin, and she quickly figured it had to do with something about being made a slave, but she wasn't sure that was it at the moment.

Sin's eyes glowed with dark fury. "You presume too much, bitch. And I'll show you what happens to all that cross me and mean harm to my friends." He looked at Smasher. "And I'll do that by making this little piggy scream, scream, scream all the way to hell!"

His eyes blazed with dark energy and the tip of his finger lit up with that same energy. Where his finger touched Smasher, the skin began to peel and roll off the muscle, making sick wet noises as it peeled all the way down his body and as the skin left, the muscle tissue they once protected ripped and snapped off their tendons and bones. Smasher screamed as Sin said he would. It was an unnatural cry; the kind only heard howling in the deepest and darkest of nightmares. And if the unimaginable torment the wild boy had to endure wasn't enough, his organs began collapsing in on themselves, grinding to pulp and gore and oozing down the repugnant form that once was the young boy.

Everyone watched as the meat and flays of skin were pulled into a tight ball at the center. Finally, the bones couldn't take anymore. They snapped and grinded against each other to make jagged small pieces and merged with the mangled mess of flesh.

By the time it was over, the screams had already died as there was nothing left to make a scream. Just the horrible ball that once was Smasher…then; the awful thing finally turned to ash and granted them mercy from the visional horror, only to be remembered in nightmares to come.

Sin pulled his hand back and placed the finger he used to inflict such torment on his chin and started tapping. "…Hmm, who's next?"

Raven and Robin didn't realize it until it was all over, but they had moved six feet away from Sin. Lasher and his gang were no longer confident.

"He's a monster…" Basher quivered, now hiding behind Lasher.

"A monster, huh?" Lasher echoed. "More like a sick fucker trying to act like one."

Sin narrowed his eyes slightly. "Come again?"

"You heard what I said," Lasher snapped. "You're a pretender. A vampire playing off the falsehood of the rumors you've spread about yourself. Oh, I know your tricks, Sin."

"Do you?" Sin grinned.

"Lasher! Don't, you know how you get when you do it," Basher warned suddenly.

Lasher jerked his arm away from her. "I'll show him what a true monster really is."

The big one with horns touched Lasher's shoulder. "No, I'll take care of him. If you let go, you might kill the girl."

Lasher glared at the horned Nosferatu, but he conceded. "Fine, Thrasher…"

Thrasher smirked over at Sin. "It's a sad fate that you will be fighting me next, Sin."

"Why is that?" Sin asked dryly.

"No man or creature has yet to beat me, and I will see to it that you suffer for killing Smasher in such a grotesque way," Thrasher growled in reply.

Sin chuckled darkly. "You're overconfidence will be your downfall."

"We will see!" Thrasher grunted and charged at Sin.

He came at him as a bull would, with his horns lowered, as if to skewer Sin on them and ram him down. Sin waited till he was close enough and raised his hand, but Thrasher was expecting him to do that. He slid to a stop and spun around to whip him with his tail. Sin was struck in the chest by the tail and thrown into the air. Thrasher ran at him again and jumped, grabbing Sin by his head with his massive claws, and tossed him at the ground, then landing on top of him with his left dragon foot overtop his head.

"This is the end for you, Sin," Thrasher stated flatly.

"The end, the end! Oh, how close the end is here," Sin muffled voice came from under his foot. "Oh, so sweet the embrace of death. Fear not its hand as it reaches for you…"

Thrasher saw Sin's limped arms whip out and pushed from the ground. Thrasher was thrown off balance from the sudden force and stumbled back till he regained it. Sin was back on his feet with the most insane of expressions. The look on his face made a big creature like Thrasher shake at the core.

"...You're a madman," Thrasher uttered, taking a step back.

"…On the eve of the morn. We must face our demons or be lost amongst the Devil's dancers," Sin continued in a mad, sage-like voice. "Have you the courage to face the madden peril of your own mind?"

"Enough of this!" Thrasher roared, filling enraged by Sin's confusing words.

Sin smiled madly and waved him on. Thrasher roared like a beast and came at him again in the same manner, horns at the ready. He tried to impale Sin on them, but the grinning Nosferatu jumped up and landed on his head.

"Wow, I can see the Tower from here!" Sin joked, scouting past the graveyard from his perch.

Thrasher growled in irritation and reached up to grab him. Sin jumped up into the air and flipped around in the same spot and came down on Thrasher and grabbed his horns. He swung his legs and used the momentum to bring Thrasher's head down as he landed and lift him right off his feet and tossed him over his head. Before he fell behind him, Sin twisted him around in the air like a corkscrew and with his vampiric strength; he slammed him down face first on the ground.

"Time for the roundup!" Sin chuckled and with some more effort, he ripped off Thrasher's horns.

The now hornless vampire screamed in pain and rolled on the ground with agony. Sin circled him slowly, laughing. Thrasher looked up in rage at him and lunged at him with his claws. Sin used the horns he was still holding like daggers and parried his claws away from his and stabbed the pointed ends right through his eyes and through the other side of his skull. Thrasher screamed like an animal as his body burst into ash.

Sin turned to Lasher, dusting himself off. "Is that all you punks got?"

Lasher growled in frustration. "I've had enough of you!"

"Aww, and I thought we were having such a good time together," Sin mocked.

"Damn bastard!" Lasher roared.

Sin smirked and chuckled darkly.

"I'll wipe that smile off your face, permanently!" Lasher vowed and stalked toward him. "I challenge you, Sin, for the property of the half-demon!"

Sin's cat-like pupils thinned down to lines. "The property? I will not tolerate anyone speaking about my daughter with such a tongue!"

"Daughter?!" Basher barked out a laugh. "You mean to say, you think that little bitch right there is actually something to you? Oh, that's rich. We know why you really want her, Sin. You're just keeping her around so you can take her child!"

Raven watched Sin, waiting to see his reaction. She never thought about it till then that maybe, just maybe, that it all might be the reason why Sin acted so nice to her, treated her like his own child. Was it all an act just to get her child?

Sin turned to face Raven with serious eyes. "Raven, I don't care about the legend. There have been many times where I wished for death, but I keep living to suffer from the torments of this life. I wanted death for a long time, until I met that little girl in the barn." He smiled at her so affectionately. "I'm not about to lose her again, not even for all the power in the world."

"Sin…" Raven spoke his name so softly.

"You're making me sick!" Lasher interjected, ruining the moment.

Sin returned his attention to him with a malice expression. "Do you mind? We're having a father/daughter moment here!"

Lasher looked at him with contempt. "A monster can't feel any emotion. You're heart is as black as mine, Sin. You can't lie about that."

Sin shrugged. "True, I am a monster. But unlike you, I have a purpose and that is keeping trash like you away from my child!"

"This is the last straw!" Lasher barked and took a step toward Sin. "I'll show you what a monster really is, I'll show that bitch what we really look like."

Sin quickly got between him and Raven. "If you think showing your true form is going to help you, then you're sadly wrong."

"True form?" Robin uttered. "Sin?"

Sin turned his head to the side, but he didn't take his eyes off Lasher. "…Over a time, we begin to 'evolve', Robin. Our bodies slowly begin to change into something more…divine."

"Divine, hah! That's an elegant way of putting it!" Lasher snickered, his voice deepening to a low growl.

He started grunting in pain as his body began to change. First was his face, small black quills appeared over his eyebrows and cheekbones, a freakish goatee of those sharp looking quills grew down his chin. His hair fell out and replaced by the same number of quills. Ripping sound filled the air as his clothes couldn't withstand the sudden increase of his body size. Spikes rose up from his skin, mostly around his shoulders and trailing down his arms and the middle of his back. Around his knees, dagger-sized spikes appeared as his legs bend and twisted into hind legs, like a cat or dog's, and at the end of his toes, claws extended out, just as his fingers did. Where there weren't spikes, more quills appeared and covered the once pale flesh they sprung out from.

" _ **This is what a monster truly looks like! We are the wolves that hunt the sheep!**_ " Lasher growled.

"Hmm, that form truly fits your personality, Lasher," Sin commented gruffly. "Ugly as a hell."

Lasher roared at him and stalked over to him and swiped at his head with his spiky right arm. Sin tilted his head back to dodge the arm and took another step back as Lasher swung with his other arm. He turned to Robin and Raven.

"Keep away, you two," Sin warned.

"We're not going to let you face that monster alone!" Robin stated.

"It's not him I want you two to stay away from…" Sin replied and his eyes slowly turned solid crimson as he looked back at Lasher. "…It's me you need to stay clear of."

"Sin?" Raven said with worry in her voice.

"…It's been so very long," Sin sighed, closing his eyes. "I have held it back for so long." The reopened his eyes and locked them on Lasher. "I've been behaving myself for too long. It's time I let it out!"

Lasher grunted a laugh. " _ **Let it out? What are you talking about?**_ "

Sin's hair broke free from its hair-band and raised and slithered around him. "There's another transformation I've forgotten to mention, Lasher. Our beast can use our bodies to make a physical form of itself. And I've kept mine locked up for too long…I think five minutes will be enough. Yes, five minutes should be all I need to end this."

"Sin, what should we do…?" Robin asked.

"Don't move…" Sin replied, his skin was melting into darkness. "…As long as you don't move, you'll be safe."

Robin nodded and led Raven a few steps away from Sin and they stayed as still as they could next to a half-dead tree.

Sin's body was completely gone in swirling darkness. What was left of him collapsed into the ground and thinned out. Everyone watched as something began crawling out that pit of darkness. At first, it looked like Sin's panther form, until snakes rose up from around its neck, acting like a collar for the thing. As for the size of it, the thing was huge! It was bigger than Lasher's form. Another difference was that on its back were the oddest set of wings. From first glance, it looked like snakes wrapped together, but as the darkness covering them slid off them, they looked to be made from scales and fangs with a shadowy substance making up for the membrane of the wings. When it was fully out of the pit, it revealed to have a snake's tail. The Sin-Beast looked at its surroundings, sniffing the air. It turned it's crimson eyes to Lasher and knew with its instincts that he was a threat to it.

Lasher stumbled back slightly from the fierce gaze. _**"…By the Abyss!**_ "

That was all the Sin-beast needed to be antagonized. It let out a roar that made all the tombstones and the loose soil quake. Raven clung to Robin, biting her own lip to keep from making a single sound. Robin held her close to him and kept his eyes locked on his Sire that now was this monstrous beast.

The Sin-Beast pounced on Lasher. He barely dodged its swiping claws and the snakes around its neck lunging out to snag him with their pointed fangs. Lasher bared his fangs at the beast and slashed at its exposed flank with his spiky arms. The Sin-beast roared and whipped its tail around and struck Lasher on his head. If Lasher hadn't moved at the last second, the blow would have most likely severed his head from his body. He was blown to the ground and the Sin-Beast whipped its tail around and slammed it over Lasher's chest. The strike was true and crushed his ribcage, but the blow caused the Sin-Beast pain as the quills on Lasher's chest dug into its flesh.

It roared and thrashed about in the graveyard, withering its tail in the air, trying to shake the quills off. Its powerful tail destroyed the remaining tombstones and cracked the foundation of the earth. Lasher used this time while it was distracted with the quills to make his escape. His wound was too severe to continue; he had to get the girl and flee while he could. He struggled to his feet, a line of blood pour out of his mouth, and headed toward where the two Titans were hiding.

Robin pushed Raven behind him and fired his Evil Eye at the oncoming Nosferatu. Lasher rolled to the side and missed the destructive beam.

Lasher smirked. " _ **You missed, whelp!**_ "

"Yeah, but it got his attention," Robin replied, pointing over his shoulder.

Lasher looked back and standing right behind him was dagger-like fangs bared from a red cavern with a forked-tongue tasting the air…and tasting fear.

Robin's beam had struck the Sin-Beast's tail, cutting it off.

It was a bold move. All it served was enraging the Sin-Beast more. His tactic did work, though. His attack may have removed the Sin-Beast's tail, but it rid him of the quills and it redrew its attention on Lasher, who happened to be in the same direction from where he attacked it.

Lasher didn't have enough time to scream as the snakes around the Sin-Beast's neck struck, digging their sharp fangs into his neck and pumping their venom in. The venom burned through his slow-moving blood, until the burning sensation had spread all through his body. Blood began gurgling out of Lasher's mouth, the venom had forced the blood to expel from his lungs and some from every pour as the venom turned his blood to acid and ate him from the inside out.

Basher screamed out for him. It was the one thing she should have never done. For the Sin-Beast turned to her, dislodging the snakes from Lasher's blood-leaking body and stalked away as the Nosferatu turned to ash like his comrades.

Basher sensed the coming threat and turned to run, knocking Masher and the red-haired woman behind her to 'block' for her. The two cursed her for her cowardly move and would have continued if not for when the Sin-Beast dashed right between them and chased the bold vampire. She might have made it if a loose tombstone, glowing black, hadn't had tripped her feet…

She collapsed and the Sin-Beast was upon her.

She stared up at the gaping jaws as they widened like a snake's and clamped down over her upper body. Her screams echoed in its throat and down its gullet as it raised its head up and slowly swallowed her whole; the only thing visible were her kicking legs, until they disappeared down the beast's throat.

The two remaining Nosferatu stared with unbelieving horror. Masher started crawling away when he remembered Sin's warning. Although, the red-haired woman stood up and crossed her arms under her chest.

"Are you mad?!" Masher hissed softly. "It'll kill you, too, if you move!"

"It won't," the red-haired woman replied calmly. "Five minutes are up."

And they were, the moment the Sin-Beast completely devoured Basher, time was up. It shook it's mane and yawned widely, looking content as any cat would after it just drank a bowl of milk or played with its favorite toy. The snakes hissed as it shook, making their discomfort by being rattled around known. They flicked their tongues out and about the air and seemed satisfied and curled up around the Sin-Beast's neck as a living collar and the wings folded against its body as it laid down to take a nap. Darkness enwrapped the Beast and it sunk into it; as it did, it melted into the same shadowy mass that conjured it and standing in it as all the shadows disappeared like water around him, was Sin.

He rolled his head some and closed his solid red eyes and opened them to show they had gone back to their original state. Raven was the first to see that all that tiredness he once had was gone. He looked rejuvenated.

"Aww…I missed that…the delicious fear," Sin relished.

"Sin? Was that…you're?" Robin hesitated.

Sin chuckled. "No, Robin. I mentioned it before; that was my Beast's form. Not mine."

"I'm still lost…" Robin uttered.

Sin walked over to the two Titans and patted him on the head. "I'll explain…"

"You won't be explaining anything!" Masher shouted in a raspy voice, as though, straining his throat with the sudden increased volume. "You must have spent much energy to change into that thing."

"I just ate your comrade, a bit of a light snack for me, but it gave me enough energy back to finish the likes of you off," Sin replied calmly, looking over his shoulder.

Masher looked thoughtful. He was trying to figure out if Sin was bluffing or not. His pondering didn't last. The red-haired woman walked up behind him and her ponytail wrapped around his throat and the spike at the end of her hair lopped his head off.

Raven gasped. "…Why did you betray him?"

The red-haired woman laughed and tossed her killer ponytail back over her shoulder. "I was never on his side, nor Lasher's."

Sin walked up to her and bowed his head to her. "Nice to see you again, Ruby."

"Likewise, Sin," she replied with a smile. "It's been far too long since we last met."

He smirked at her with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. "Yes…"

"Uh? Sin, who's your friend?" Raven asked, feeling very lost at the moment.

"Hmm? Oh!" Sin replied, remembering they were there. "This, my children is Ruby, the Red Scorpion, an ex-pirate of the Caribbean."

"A pirate?" Robin gawked, his eyes slowing drifting south, until Raven took his chin and forced his face to look back up, with a small glare at him. He laughed nervously.

Ruby chuckled flirtatiously. "You have such a handsome boy, Sin."

Robin fought with everything he had to keep from blushing.

"Thank you, Ruby. Now, indulge me for a moment," Sin replied, his look growing slightly suspicious. "Why were you with that bunch?"

"I heard the rumors and knowing that you were involved, I naturally wanted to get in on the action," Ruby replied. "Anything that deals with you is bound to be a wild time!"

"True, but this isn't like anything you or I have been through," Sin said. "I have every power-hungry Nosferatu coming here after Raven."

"That's what makes this whole thing all the more exciting!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yup, she's definitely one of your friends, Sin," Raven remarked.

Sin grinned as he chuckled, then said to Ruby. "How did you get mixed with Lasher? I didn't think you'd have anything to do with that piece of scum."

"I don't," Ruby replied sharply. "But he was the only way I could get here as fast as I could…You have no idea what it took to get him to trust me to bring me along."

Sin frowned slightly. "Next time, Ruby, contact me. I would have gladly have come and gotten you."

She smiled. "I know, but I was under a special assignment from the Council, anyway. I had to mix in with the lower trash to keep an eye on all their activities. Lasher was the best choice to get close and hear all the latest info going through the underworld."

"No offense to you. But why did the Council give you such an assignment?" Sin asked.

"Because with the recent attacks and assassination attempts to every member on the Council. They've been recruiting trustworthy people to act as spies to find out why these attacks are occurring," Ruby replied.

Sin pondered her words for a moment then snarled. "I'm sure Stefan is the one responsible for all these recent attacks."

"I agree with you," Ruby said. "Ever sense he came to the Council and demanded their cooperation, which they refused, of course. We've had all these problems."

Sin grunted a chuckle. "I see. He's trying to kill off the Council and when they're all gone, he'll move in and take control in the confusion, and then no one will question his motives…He's actually trying to become the dictator."

"You don't know the half of it, Sin," Ruby said, her voice edged with worry. "Everyone that's still loyal to the Council is disappearing. Some of my closest friends have gone missing, I've tried to look for them, but it's like they just stopped existing."

Sin walked up to her and touched her shoulder. "I'll see that they are avenged, Ruby. This all started with Stefan and I will see it end with him."

Ruby stared at Sin. "How can you say that about him? I mean, you two were…"

Sin cut her off with a wave of his hand. "That's the past. He ended it when he began to feed his power-lust. Whatever he meant to me then died when I left."

"I wish I could understand how you can act like this, Sin," Ruby said, shaking her head some. "You amaze me so much."

He removed his hand from her and walked over to Robin and Raven and placed a hand on their shoulders and looked back at her. "This is why."

Ruby looked at the two. "You two are very lucky to have someone like Sin in your lives."

"We know," Robin replied.

"Good, and make sure you do. Sin is one in a million…" Ruby replied with a sad smile. It soon left her face and replaced by a smirk. "Well, it looks like my covers been blown. If the other Nosferatu find out I'm the only survivor in Lasher's bunch, they'll easily know you let me live. They'll come after me soon."

"Then stay," Sin said simply. "I'm going to need all the help I can get right now."

"The mighty Sin asking for my help. I'd never would have believed it," Ruby said with a smile.

"Even I'm not so prideful to ask for help," Sin replied.

"Well, if you really need my help, I guess I can hang around for a while," Ruby said, pretending it was nothing. "Things have been dull without you around."

"Thank you, Ruby," Sin said.

She started walking off and waved over her shoulder at them. "I'll be in touch. Don't be a stranger."

Raven turned to Sin. "She really seemed to miss you, Sin. Like she was…"

He placed a finger on her mouth. "I'm not a monk, Raven. She and I had what you would call now a 'fling' long ago. You can't live as long as I have and not get lonely sometimes."

"No, I guess not," Raven conceded.

"Now then. Why the hell were you two out here in the first place?" Sin asked.

Raven looked away from him.

Robin answered for her. "The whole city is crawling with Nosferatu. They've been invading Raven's dreams turning them into nightmares…"

Sin looked into Raven's soul with his soul-reading and he nearly began weeping for what he found in her.

"They'll pay…" Sin growled, his eyes shining with rage.

He kneeled down and pulled her into his arms. She went to hug him, but he turned her around. He cut his index finger with his fang and used the bleeding digit to paint a glyph on the back of her neck. He spoke some forgotten language and the glyph glowed brightly and dissolved into her skin.

Raven turned around and touched the back of her neck. "What did you do?"

"I made it so no one can enter your mind with my knowing. It will add my mental barriers to strengthen yours so anyone you don't want to enter from breaking in, even when you're asleep," Sin replied.

"Thanks, Sin," Raven replied, trying to keep her tiredness out of her voice. "I don't think I'd be able to keep going if this kept up…"

Sin stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Hey. Never think like that, my dear. I won't let anything happen you. I'll make it so."

She sniffed and wiped a tear from her eye. "I'm really getting tired of crying."

Robin came over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "We'll make it so you never have to cry again. Right, Sin?"

Sin stood up and smiled wicked. "Damn straight!"

Raven giggled and rested her head on Robin's chest. "I love you guys."

Robin kissed her head. "Come on, we better get you back to the Tower."

"Me? What about you?" Raven pondered.

"Sin and I are going to 'paint the town red'," Robin replied, an evil smile rising on his face. "With every Nosferatu's blood."

"This is our city. Anyone who comes waltzing in here and try knocking it up will pay with their blood," Sin added, beginning to crackle darkly.

Sin touched Raven and Robin's shoulder and darkness began to wrap around them. Before they disappeared, Sin said, "Let the hunt begin!"

A/N: Things are really getting more complicated for our dark trio. The city is now a battlefield with Raven as the prize. And to top it off, Starfire is infected with lycanthropy, but will there be any side-effects? Keep reading to find out more. And please leave a review to let me know your thoughts. I'm not lying when I say seeing them helps me get the next updates out faster. Thank you for your patience.


	24. Chapter 24

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, only the following characters: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, and Ruby. Desdemona Aimee Graves is the property of Grave_of_Desdemona.

A/N: Thank you everyone for the wonderful reviews. I said if I got good reviews I'd reply faster…Well, sooner than I usually do, lol!

 **Grave Meetings**

The news was buzzing throughout Jump City of creatures attacking citizens and leaving them drained of blood. There proved to be too many Nosferatu lurking in the city for Sin and Robin to handle. The police department got wind of the creatures and have tried to get a hold of the situation, but no matter what type of force they used, they couldn't stop the Nosferatu that have flocked and made the City of Tomorrow a battleground and with one objective…the capture of Raven.

The Titans were maxing themselves with aiding the police and SWAT forces. When they asked what the reasoning for all this was, the Titans remained silent. They couldn't let the law or the news get out about vampires attacking the city in the hopes of using Raven for some legend, and that their leader himself was now one of these creatures. It would cause a lot of grief for them if the city found out that the Titans knew beforehand about the vampires choking the city. Some of the police tried to get tough and force the answers out of Robin, thinking he would have to crack sooner or later. How wrong they were. Robin was as silent as the grave. When they tried to threaten him with the disbandment of the team, Robin just stared at them behind his black sunglasses and no one dared threaten him again…

One of the detectives, by the name of Damien Reynolds, came up to Robin about a mysterious man that Robin has been seen hanging around with. Robin didn't say anything on that either. Although, Detective Reynolds wasn't letting Robin leave the station until he got the answers he wanted.

Detective Reynolds was walking around the table that Robin was sitting at, with his arms crossed and staring at the table. Reynolds glared at Robin with hard brown eyes, hoping that his intimating cop face will get him somewhere. What he forgot was that he was dealing with the ex-partner of Batman and the leader of the Teen Titans. He shook his head, making his slightly long and messy dark-brown hair shake about on his head and tried to get some of the tension out of his broad shoulders.

"I know you have more information on these damn things that are attacking innocent citizens, Robin," Reynolds said in a low tone. "Keeping any information regarding all this won't make you and your little band of heroes look good, I can say that much."

Robin didn't reply.

"And keeping quiet isn't helping you either! All it shows me is that you do know something and I'm going to find out one way or another," Reynolds said, his voice rising in anger.

"And what would you do if I did tell you anything on what's going on?" Robin finally spoke, not looking up at the detective. "Could any knowledge I say really help you deal with what's been happening?"

"Yes, damn it!" Reynolds roared, slamming a balled fist on the table. "We're in charged with the public's safety, not you band of vigilantes!"

Robin grinned slightly. "Sorry, but it won't."

"Oh? So only you heroes can understand the major threats, that all of us who have sworn to protect law and order are just a ramble and wasting our time, is that what I'm hearing?" Reynolds said.

Robin's grin disappeared. "Sorry you feel that way, Detective, but that isn't what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?" Reynolds demanded.

Robin grinned again and sat up. "Can't help you."

"Sit back down!" Reynolds ordered.

"We're both wasting time here, Detective," Robin replied. "I can't stay here and argue with you when people's lives are in danger."

"You're not leaving until I say so. And that won't be until you've come clean with me and your connections with Sinclair Lockston," Reynolds said.

Robin looked up at him when he heard the name. "Who?"

"You know who I'm talking about. He runs the nightclub, Crimson Desires, and seems to have other businesses that leak into almost everything in this city. I want to know why you've been seen with this man on more than one occasion," Reynolds said.

"I've got nothing to say to you about him," Robin replied, keeping his voice blank.

"Fuck that! When this man started hanging around your lot, things in my city have been getting crazier and crazier! Who is he! If you don't tell me, then I'll have you locked up and…" He stopped dead when Robin looked up at him and slowly walked over to him.

"Or what, Detective?" Robin spat venomously.

"Don't try anything, Robin…" Reynolds warned.

"What makes you think I was going to?" Robin asked, keeping his covered eyes locked on him.

"From what I've seen you do to the criminals lately; I think you could do something regrettable for yourself if you try assaulting an officer," Reynolds retorted.

Robin was spared from saying any more words that might have gotten him in trouble when the doors flew open and Sin strolled in.

Reynolds turned around and glared at him. "Mr. Lockston? What are you doing here? This is a police interrogation; you have no business being here."

Sin grinned at him and pushed the sunglasses he was wearing back to there proper place, hiding the evil glint in his scarlet eyes. "Detective Reynolds, so nice to see you again. I wasn't aware that one of the city's greatest protectors was under interrogation."

"I said you have no business being here, Sinclair. Now get out before I have my men come in here, and I warn you, some of them would like an excuse to get back at you after that so-called ghost infestation!" Reynolds barked.

"I'm here under the city's orders. They wish for my services again and that I should ask for the Titans for help on this particular manner," Sin replied.

"That's bull!" Reynolds shouted. "Anything that you're involved with ends up with my men either dead or wounded."

"That was just that one time and if you'd have just listen to me; then no one would have gotten hurt," Sin replied, with an icy tone.

Reynolds came around and grabbed the front of Sin's shirt. "You don't order me, sadist."

Sin glanced down at the hand and back up to the detective's angry eyes with that devilish grin on his face. "Think what you may, but the mayor wants me to deal with the situation and I have the chief's full cooperation."

"Then the chief is an idiot for letting the likes of you get involved in this case," Reynolds said.

"What was that, Reynolds?"

Chief Clary stormed into the interrogation room, and he didn't look happy. He was very ticked off but it didn't have anything to do with Sin being there. His anger was pointed straight at Detective Reynolds. Chief Clary wasn't a man to get on the wrong side, not with being an ex-marine. He was a veteran Captain from Vietnam, forced to retire when he lost his left knee to a landmine. He almost lost that leg, but somehow he managed to get medical help quick enough to save it. Now he had a steel knee in place for his old one and it came in handy many times when he brought down criminals. More specifically, when kneeing one of them between the legs. If it weren't the knee that made his people cautious, it was his built. The man was as solid with muscles as he was back in his college football years. His hair was short, black with grey lining the sides, and his green eyes would have made someone think they were made out of jade. Unfortunate for Reynolds, those eyes were glaring at him.

"I'm an idiot, am I?" Chief Clary growled with a voice that came from smoking too much.

"Chief, I didn't mean what I…" Reynolds stuttered, letting go of Sin.

"Oh, shut your mouth, Reynolds. I heard everything," Chief Clary. "I wasn't happy about agreeing with the Mayor on letting Sinclair get in on this case anymore than you are, but now you've changed my mind!"

"Sir? You can't be serious! You remember what happened when we let this sicko on the Newberg case! He left the building in ruins and most of my men were dead or dying!" Reynolds shouted.

"It was _my_ men that went in there, Detective Reynolds," Chief Clary growled softly, crossing his arms over his stout chest. "And to tell the truth, it was because of Sinclair's efforts that saved the remaining men that were dying after you messed up the whole thing."

"He was cutting himself up and painting the whole room in blood!" Reynolds replied, clearly forgetting he was shouting at the chief of police.

"I explained to you why that was necessary," Sin said, remaining calm.

Reynolds turned to him. "You keep you mouth shut!"

"Reynolds! I've had enough of you and your temper. As of now, this whole problem will be given over to Sinclair and the Titans to handle. We will maintain public safety and insure nobody is out after dark until these creatures are stopped," Chief Clary said angrily. He turned to Robin and Sin. "You two can leave and I'm sorry, Robin, for having to deal with this idiot."

"No prob, Chief," Robin said and walked out of the interrogation room with Sin right behind him.

They heard the Chief begin to tear into Reynolds as they closed the door and walked out of the police station. When they were clear, Robin looked at Sin over his shoulder.

"What was that all about?" Robin asked.

"I'm one of the City's supernatural experts. I help out the police when they run into odd cases. The Newberg case, as Reynolds blurted, was one of those cases I helped out," Sin replied, with a grin. "It turned out to be a demon living in the Newberg's basement that was once an Indian burial ground, and I was placing a sealing spell to keep the demon from getting out. Unfortunately, Reynolds took it the wrong way and messed up the spell by getting his men to wash the blood off the walls. It broke my spell and the demon used my blood to break free and enter this world…I had a very hard time beating that thing and the end result was an enemy for life, or his life, with Reynolds," Sin explained, stuffing his hands in his jacket's pockets.

"Then why was the chief any happier about you getting involved…and how did you get involved?" Robin asked.

"Usually when they ask for my help…the situation ends up with fatalities. And as to how I got the police to leave us alone, I simply called up the Mayor and told him the truth," Sin replied.

Robin panicked and turned to face him. "How much of the truth?"

"That the city is under attack by vampires and they're looking for something. And that he is to keep the news about the vampires from leaking out to the rest of the world," Sin replied. "I do not want anyone to find out about you or I and much as you do, Robin. We can't allow the world to know about our kind, it would cause too many problems."

"So now we can deal with the Nosferatu openly and not have to worry about the police getting mixed up and possibly getting killed," Robin deduced.

"Precisely," Sin confirmed.

Robin let out a sigh of relief. "That's one less worry to deal with."

Sin shook his head. "We have to get a handle on this, Robin. If we don't get rid of the Nosferatu raiding the city, then the whole world will find out that vampires do exist and we will be on the run or an open war will begin…and neither are good choices."

"I understand, Sin. We're going to need some more help on this. There are too many Nosferatu coming in and they keep getting stronger and stronger!" Robin said.

"…I know, Robin," Sin sighed. "I just might have to call in some favors."

"From who?" Robin asked.

"A few people that I've worked with," Sin replied. "I could always rely on them when things got out of hand." A wicked smile grew on his face. "Oh, yes…they'll be perfect for this kind of mess."

Robin's T-Com blipped. He pulled it out and opened it with flick of his wrist. "Robin here."

"Robin! We've got a bunch of Nosferatu trying to turn a whole neighborhood into a killing field!" Cyborg said over the T-Com.

"Sin and I will be there! Try and keep them back until we get there!" Robin said, and turned off his T-Com. "Let's hurry!"

Sin was halfway through a portal. "Come on!"

Robin followed him and the two rushed over to the scene.

Just a bit away from the neighborhood where the bloody scene was transpiring, a new arrival all the way out from California was making her way into Jump City. She came a long way to get away from the grief and hardships. Imagine her surprise when she found herself out of the pan and into the fire…

Desdemona Aimee Graves was walking down the street, with a long bag of the few belongings she had over her shoulder. She was dressed in a black shirt with the lower length cut enough to show off her smooth, creamy white midriff and black buckled trousers, four straps circling around the waist-line and buckled to the hoops on the other thigh of her trousers and spiked platinum boots. She had a short leather jacket and fingerless leather gloves. Around her neck was a steel stubbed and spiked choker and fake-silver earrings in the shape of daggers with a snake coiled around them. Her silky black hair had dark red highlights and pulled back in a tight ponytail in the back and had two bangs falling down on either side of her face.

She just turned the corner when a body went flying right past her and landed just a few feet from her. She gazed over beyond the street and saw Nosferatu everywhere terrorizing the neighborhood and stalking after innocent people on the streets, in their homes, their beds!

"…The City of Tomorrow, huh? Looks more City of Turmoil…" Desdemona remarked dryly, and then groaned to herself. "I came all this way just to find a massacre? Fuck it all!"

She turned on her heels and decided to go right back to California, but then three Nosferatu leapt in front of her, blocking her path.

"Another sheep for the slaughter, boys!" one of them snickered.

Desdemona glared at the Nosferatu with crimson eyes…

"I'm no sheep, asshole," Desdemona snarled, and slid the strap of her bag off her shoulder and zipped it open and reached in.

From the bag, she drew a metal scythe and pulled out a gauntlet with spiked chains wrapped around it and hooks at the end of each chain. She dropped the bag and put on the gauntlet on her left forearm and rested the scythe over her right shoulder.

"Any of you bitches wanna piece of this? If so then let's get going. I've got better things to do than waste my time on lowlifes like you," Desdemona said coldly.

The three didn't look threaten by her show; they looked disappointed.

"…Just another like us," the same on that spoke said.

His companion on the right smiled. "Hey, maybe you'd like to join us in a like frenzy! The city is loaded with prey."

Desdemona sneered at him. "Sorry, but I'm not a girl into senseless bloodshed…well, not when I'm in a bad mood."

"Come on! It'll be fun! You're here for the half-breed, too, aren't you?" the Nosferatu on the left said.

"Half-breed?" Desdemona echoed. "I'm only here because I heard a bunch of vamps coming here. I figured it was gonna be a safe city to stay in for a while, maybe get in on some fun. But now all I see is a bunch of S.O.B's just getting together for some mindless killing. I've had enough of that back in LA; I don't need more here."

"Ah, let the bitch go," the one of the right scoffed. "There's plenty of ass around to nail."

The redness in Desdemona's eyes darkened. "You plan to rape women, too?"

"It's all war here, girl," the Nosferatu in the middle smirked. "Any human is up for grabs for anything we want."

Desdemona grabbed her scythe with both hands and positioned it in an offensive stance. "Now you see, raping women, even for fun, isn't something I can stand."

"You're a bleeding heart?" the right Nosferatu growled.

"No, I just don't like pricks like you walking around and wasting space with your rotten existence," Desdemona replied with a smirk.

"Fuck you, bitch! I'm gonna have you crying and begging under me after I'm done with you!" the Nosferatu in the middle snarled.

"Like you ever had a chance with a girl like me," Desdemona retorted cockily.

The Nosferatu hissed and pulled out an Uzi. She had already sprung into action when he reached for his gun. She jumped into the air and came down in a graceful spin with her scythe buzzing through the air and sliced the Nosferatu's arm off. She grabbed the Uzi as the arm turned to dust and unloaded the clip in its previous owner's chest. Normally, it would take silver bullets to kill a Nosferatu, but what some people don't know is, if you put a big enough hole where the heart should be; you'll get the same results as with silver bullets. But the trick only worked with the young ones.

She bent her knees and spun her scythe up above her and cut the other two Nosferatu down in half. After she watched them turn to ash, she went back to where she dropped her bag and bent down to pick it up. Just as she reached down, cold metal slid under her chin and the feel of the blade just barely touching her skin made her freeze.

"I was about to kill you, but after seeing you dispatch those slime bags. I'm not sure what to think now," a deep and dark voice said.

"Get that blade away from me if you know what's good for you," Desdemona threatened.

"Or what?" the person mocked.

"Or I'll take that sword and shove it up your ass, that's what," Desdemona replied, glaring up at whoever was holding the sword.

Her glare was met with mocking crimson eyes. Sin grinned down at her and made her straighten up by rising her chin up with his sword. All the while, she was glaring daggers at him.

He looked over once and grinned slightly more. "Hmm, deadly and beauty."

"Letch…" Desdemona hissed.

Sin chuckled. "I like to think of myself as more of an admirer of the opposite sex."

"Call it whatever you want, ass-wipe," Desdemona replied curtly.

"Does your vocabulary expand beyond the use of foul words?" Sin asked sarcastically.

She grunted in contempt and slapped the blade away from her with the back of her gauntlet. "This is your last warning. Leave me alone or you'll be joining the ranks of the deceased."

Sin made a show as he weighted his options by nodding his head from side to side. He then cocked his head back to her with a smile. "I'd like to let you go, but I'm at war with any Nosferatu that comes here, and I cannot take any chances that you won't leave the city and try to get your hands on my daughter."

Desdemona looked confused for a moment. "The fuck would anyone want with your daughter for? Are you one of those over-protective father types?"

"When it comes to keep her from being used like a tool, then yes," Sin replied darkly.

"I've had enough of this! I you gave your last chance, now eat dirt!" Desdemona shouted and she punched at him with her strange gauntlet.

It was rather easy for Sin to dodge the strike as she wasn't as fast as he was. What he didn't expect was for the spiked chains around the gauntlet to come to life and dance and clink together as they unwound from the gauntlet and came at him. They dove on him like snakes and wrapped around his left arm, cutting up flesh to the bone and severing it from his body. He might have screamed if he wasn't too busy dodging the other wavering chains.

Desdemona stood with her gauntlet out as the chains gave chase to him. "I warned you not to mess with me."

Sin had to laugh at her bravado. There were very few he'd encountered that could be so confident against him; he would quickly change that.

" _ **Crimson Laceration!"**_ Sin shouted, letting loose a barrage of crimson energy blades.

Desdemona back-flipped and missed some of the blades. Her dancing chains proved to be a great deflector for the ones that would have harmed her. Sin didn't seem mad that his attack didn't work on her; his expression was between wonder and calculating. The chains moved of their own will, or so she might have made them look like, because while she floated gracefully to the ground, one of the chains took her scythe and launched it at Sin. He blocked the weapon with his sword and leapt to the side when the other chains tried to sink their hooked ends into him.

"You're not gonna win," Desdemona stated matter-of-factly.

"You don't know who you're dealing with," Sin replied, and his devilish grin grew even more devilish.

Darkness rose up from where his arm once was and it slithered about and turned into a dozen shadow snakes. The snakes hissed and bared their fangs and lunged toward Desdemona. Some of the shadow snakes used themselves as shields to block the chains to allow the others to break through her defenses. She reacted quickly and had the chain holding her scythe to chop off the shadow snakes heads. She smirked in satisfaction of her swiftness and that was when she made her biggest mistake; she let herself get cocky. Sin regrew the shadow snakes heads and with new heads, so came more snakes, like the Hydra of Greek legend. They wrapped around the spiked chains and Sin threw his sword right at Desdemona like it was a knife. She blocked his weapon with her scythe, but when the blades made connect, Sin's sword seemed to come to life and pushed her weapon away from her; which left Sin with a wide opening.

He dove right for her through the mad melee of clattering chains and hissing snakes. He kicked his leg up right under her face and she collapsed to the ground like a rag doll, the spiked chains withered wildly, then went limp and scattered about on the bloody street.

"You're a feisty one, I'll give you that. But you shouldn't ever get cocky," Sin remarked, as all the snakes intertwined and reform into a new arm for him.

Desdemona moaned and rolled onto her side. She moved her jaw until the pain went away and glared back at him. "You're the one that shouldn't get so cocky. Look where you're standing!"

Sin looked down and saw that all the chains had landed around him; it was a trap! With a command through her gauntlet, the chains sprang back to life and encircled around him, making a cocoon and cutting deep into his flesh.

"Bye!" Desdemona smiled brightly and gave the chains a tug. They dug deeper around Sin rapidly and ripped him into pieces. "I guess he was just all talk…like all the others."

"Oh, I'm much more capable than you think," a familiar voice rose up from behind her and she felt the tip of a blade press to the back of her neck.

Desdemona brought her scythe to her face and used the polished metal to see in the reflection of it. Sin was standing behind her, grinning, and positioned to thrust the sword through her throat.

"How did you…?" Desdemona fell silent when the blade was pressed harder on her neck.

Sin grinned. "That was just my shadow…and you kept up with it very well."

"Your shadow?!" Desdemona gasped, feeling very scared now…it took everything she had just to beat that damn thing. What hope did she have against the real one?

Her fears were put to rest when she felt the blade leave her neck. She turned to face him in confusion and suspicion clear in her eyes.

"Calm yourself. I simply wish to know why you came here," Sin said, acting as if she wasn't a threat to him.

She didn't like that. How he kept so calm when there were a horde of Nosferatu around them and buildings being ruined and plastered with blood…It was like he was used to all this mayhem! That led her to believe he was a veteran of wars forgotten by time. She'd have to be careful around him.

"Who are you?" Desdemona asked, the spiked chains rewrapped themselves back around her gauntlet.

Sin bowed at the waist and nodded his head at her as his chin past his chest. It made his bangs fall over his eyes and covering them in shadow so only his grin was visible to her.

"Sin…" Sin answered, followed by smiling wide enough to make his face look frightening.

If Desdemona was still alive, she'd known her heart would have skipped a few beats and her blood would run cold. She had to fight not to take a step back from him or show her fear in her eyes; she only succeeded with the former. Sin easily caught the glimmer in her crimson eyes and it only made him smile wider.

"You…You're that psycho that I've heard about from other Nosferatu," Desdemona whispered.

"Psycho? Is that what the young call me in this age?" Sin asked in a low tone.

She held up her hands in defense. "I'm only saying what I heard from others I've been around."

"I seem to be slipping badly if I'm only considered a psycho," Sin said more to himself than to her.

A cry for help ripped through the air suddenly. Sin straightened back up and saluted her by tapping the blade of his sword against the side of his forehead. "Pardon me, but I have to clean out some vermin."

He ran back into the bloody battle transpiring in the once peaceful neighborhood. She saw him join the side of another Nosferatu with a purple eye and a girl in a purple cloak. She saw other strangely dressed young people battling with them and quickly deduced they were the Teen Titans, as they were one of the things that made Jump City so famous and alluring to her. Now she was seeing them in the flesh and watching them fight against numerous Nosferatu without the slightest concern for themselves. She could guess that Sin only fought along side them, because the Nosferatu would be more of a challenge for him. As for the other two, she quickly recognized as Robin and Raven.

Her inner senses told her in volumes there was a deep connection between the two as neither moved far from the other in the brawl. And there was something else she was picking up, radiating off of Raven, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She'd have to worry about that later as some of the Nosferatu were concentrating on bringing down the dark girl and dispatch her protectors. She could feel their anxiousness toward Raven, and saw in their unguarded minds what they have planned for her and it sickened her.

Desdemona reacted before she realized her body moved. She ran toward them and readied her scythe by her side and cut down the nearest Nosferatu and proceeded to bring the others down in the same fashion. She didn't stop until she was almost right in the dark girl's face and was forced to stop swinging her scythe or risk hurting her.

Raven was very surprised by this newcomer and what she had done. By her quick observation she saw what this girl was, but she didn't feel any malicious intentions from her. She just stood there for a moment staring at her while letting her empathy tell her if she was hiding anything from her. She could sense nothing.

"…Thanks," Raven replied wryly.

Desdemona took a step back and lowered her weapon, to show she really didn't mean any harm to her. "…Uh, you're welcome."

Raven bolted her eyes up as a shadow suddenly reared up behind Desdemona. Her eyes flashed white and her belt blazed to life. Black silhouettes came forth from her hands and they lanced out. Desdemona thought she was attacking her and raised her scythe to defend herself. The black energy moved around her and struck the vampire that had snuck up on her unexpected ally and sliced him to several large pieces. Desdemona relaxed when she heard the things scream and ash darted around her.

She looked over her shoulder and back. "…Not used to someone helping me out."

"You're welcome," Raven replied with a slight smile.

Desdemona eyed her, and then started laughing awkward. "Yeah, thanks."

"Who are you?" Raven asked.

"My name's Desdemona…Call me Desi," Desdemona replied.

Before the two girls could begin a conversation, they remembered the battle around them and moved to stand back to back. Sin had seen the whole scene while fighting and mused to himself about the newcomer.

A few feet away, Robin was fighting against five Nosferatu at once.

"Heh, heh! We know you are weak, boy. You're barely a year old, a baby still," one of the Nosferatu mocked.

Robin stood ready with his Evil Eye glowing. "I might be young compared to you, but you'll be making a deadly mistake to underestimate me."

They only laughed at him and began their assault. Robin moved like grease-lightning before any of them could touch him. He was young, yes, but he wasn't a normal human before his turning. When he became visible again, his blades were bloodied and the five overconfident Nosferatu were blowing away in the wind like dust. Another Nosferatu came at him from above, looking more like a bat than a human. Robin twisted his waist to the side to dodge its racking clawed feet and used his Evil Eye to cut it in half as it went through the beam. That wasn't the last one to attack him. More came out of the buildings and shadows and swarmed him, clawing at his body and ripping his clothes. Robin disappeared in that mass of shadows and fangs. Then an eerie light crackled in various parts in that raging mass and a burst of dark purple light erupted up and destroyed all the surrounding Nosferatu.

Robin stood alone in a hole of smoking debris. His whole body was glowing for a brief moment with the same energy leaking out of his Evil Eye. He looked at his hands as the energy faded and an evil grin formed on his face, because he just had a wicked idea. More Nosferatu came at him, which provided him with the chance to quick test his idea. He focused his energy, both his own and the energy for his eye, and wrapped his body with it like a cloak. Soon, his whole body was glowing with the sinister energy and he dashed start at the oncoming Nosferatu.

" _ **Devil's Dance!"**_ Robin hissed, moving faster until he was a glowing blur.

His body transformed for a brief moment into pure negative energy and zoomed straight through each Nosferatu attacking him. As he halted right behind the lot and became his old self, all the Nosferatu he past had stopped dead where they were before they suddenly exploded.

Speedy landed next to him and stared at the awesome, horrific sight. "What did you do to them?"

Robin straightened up and twirled his Bo Staff for show. "I entered their bodies for a brief moment and left a little 'bomb' in their bodies, triggered by their own malice…heh heh… _Hahahahahaha_!" Robin was laughing fully and for a brief moment looked exactly like Sin to Speedy.

"…You're fucking creepy, man," Speedy commented sourly.

Robin shot him a gleeful look. "Thanks!" Then jumped back into the fray alongside Cyborg.

Cyborg had refigured his Sonic Cannon to an UV Cannon. Instead of shooting sonic beams, it fired a concentrated beam of Ultra Violet light. This new Cannon mode came in handy against sun-fearing creatures. He mowed them down with each burst, careful not to hit Sin, as he was still affected by the sun's rays and the new girl fighting next to Raven.

"Is that all of them?" Beast Boy said tiredly, appearing next to Cyborg where once a green wolf was.

"I think we got most of them," Cyborg replied, shifting his UV Cannon back into his arm. "If there's any left Sin and Robin can handle them. We gotta get the wounded out and treated."

"Starfire and Lynx got a handle on that," Beast Boy replied, looking for any movement in the shadows.

"Star? With her broken arm?" Cyborg gawked.

"Would it stop you from helping people if your arm was broken?" Beast Boy retorted.

"…No, I'd break the other if it would save lives," Cyborg admitted.

"Yeah, and besides…her arm is all healed up," Beast Boy informed.

"What? How?" Cyborg asked in astonishment.

"I saw her break her cast over one of the Nosferatu's head when it had a hold of her other arm," Beast Boy replied. "After she did, she seemed to be able to move it just fine, as if it never was broken…"

"I guess more good is coming out then bad with her lycanthropy," Cyborg said, but wasn't sure of his statement.

"Yes, and it helps that Lynx is helping with her personal needs. Heh, heh!" Sin said, who just appeared, standing behind the boys.

Both screamed at the same pitch: high. Sin laughed wildly.

Once Beast Boy's heart returned to its place in his chest, he turned to Sin. "Will you stop doing that, dammit!"

Sin continued to laugh. "The looks on your faces are always priceless every time!"

Cyborg growled some. "Are there any more Nosferatu around, Sin?"

"No, we've exterminated the ones in this area," Sin confirmed.

Robin walked up to them with Raven and Desdemona behind him. He didn't say anything about the newcomer since Sin hadn't killed her or that Raven seemed so at ease next to her. He surveyed the ruined neighborhood to see the carnage reaped upon it. It filled him with anger and it showed in his wicked eye.

"This can't keep going on, Sin," Robin stated.

Sin didn't have to read his fledgling's mind to tell what he was thinking; it was all too clear in his eyes.

"I agree. Which is why I will be leaving to recruit some help," Sin replied. "I will be back shortly." Before he teleported away, he locked his eyes on Desdemona. "You have my thanks. You helped protect my daughter and for that, I owe you greatly."

"You…owe me?" Desdemona gawked, looking as disbelieving as she felt.

Sin bowed his head to her. "Indeed, if you need a sanctum to rest my fledgling Robin will take care of all your needs."

Robin opened his mouth to protest, but Sin had already disappeared. He let his mouth hang open for a moment, then closed it and addressed Desdemona. "You can stay with us."

"Me? Stay in Titans Tower…hot damn!" Desdemona cheered, then looked thoughtful. "Why are you guys trusting me so quickly? I just showed out of nowhere for all you know and I could be your enemy."

Robin walked right up to her and gaze into her eyes with his mismatched ones. "Because if you were an enemy, then Sin would have made sure your ashes were among the ones we just killed…"

She felt a twitch of fear from the dark Boy Wonder. He was indeed that weird guy's fledgling to have a look he had now in his eyes, as she thought. She didn't let her thoughts show this time on her face; he wasn't as scary as his Sire was.

"Alright," Desdemona replied with a blank expression.

Robin kept his eyes gazing into hers for a moment longer, then broke the look and turned to stalk away with the wind kicking up his trench coat behind him.

Desdemona looked over at the other Titans. "You know, I heard he was a bit more 'cheery' than this."

"We've been going through a lot over the last few months…" Raven replied. "But this is the first…we've had people's lives on the line like this…"

Desdemona looked around her at the decimated area. "Yeah…LA was nothing compared to this."

"You're from LA?" Beast Boy inquired.

"Yeah. Well…I've lived there for a few years, but I wasn't born there," Desdemona replied casually.

"Cool. Why don't we go back and get some rest at the Tower. You can tell us more about yourself there, and we'll inform you on what's going on," Cyborg said.

Desdemona looked at him eagerly. "…Does that mean I can ride in the T-Car?"

"Uh…Yeah, if you want," Cyborg said awkwardly.

"COOOOOOOOOOOOOL!" Desdemona cheered and ran off, then stopped. "Uh…where is it?"

Cyborg chuckled. "Follow us."

They all climbed into the T-Car which was parked just outside of the neighborhood and drove back to the Tower, with an excited Desdemona riding shotgun. Robin called Starfire and Lynx to let them know the situation was dealt with, and to get back to the Tower once they finished helping the EMT's get the wounded settled. As he turned his T-Com off, he wondered if Jump City will ever be the same again…

Over in England, Sin was walking the foggy streets of London. Things were quite calm now in the UK and he sneered as he knew it was only because all the eager Nosferatu were heading over to his city. Or he thought until he sensed someone following him. He stopped dead in the street and turned to the source.

"What are you doing here…Stefan?" Sin growled.

Out of the thick fog, Stefan stepped out with a smug look about him. "Sin, after all this time I've waited for you to come back to old London, you come back with malice."

Sin glared at him. "Cut the act, Stefan. I have better things to do than waste my time with you…"

"Oh? Such as keeping your _daughter_ safe? If that were so, then shouldn't you be next to her like an obedient mutt?" Stefan replied with cool arrogance.

"Careful, Stefan, I'm really in the mood to kill someone right now," Sin warned, his eyes narrowing at him.

Stefan spread his arms out and smiled at him. "Then why don't you attack me now? You know I won't stop until I get what I want. It would be wiser to kill me now…or is it something else?"

Sin didn't let anything show in his expression or posture, but his chest was tightening. Stefan smiled and walked up to Sin and reached out to him. Sin took a step back from him and snarled.

"Don't touch me…" Sin hissed.

Stefan stopped his hand and pulled it back to him. "You can't fool me, Sin. I know you too well. You still harbor some feelings from the old days…we used to have such fun times together." A mournful tone had crept into his voice, until it hardened like ice. "Why did you leave, Sin?!"

"You," Sin growled.

"Me?" Stefan echoed.

"You and your obsession for power," Sin continued. "That's what drove me away. It turned you into the cold and heartless…Lich that you are now."

Stefan's eyes flared in anger. "Don't you ever call me that again, Sin."

Sin smiled, knowing he struck a nerve in the unfeeling antagonist. Stefan calmed himself and sleeked his hair back to buy him a moment to control his emotions. Sin was the one being that could ever get under his skin. He knew which buttons to press to get whatever reaction he wanted out of the Necromancer.

Sin for his part gave him that time, then replied, "What are you really here for, Stefan?"

"To call a truce," Stefan answered, once he was sure he had himself under control.

"A truce?" Sin repeated suspiciously. "What's your game?"

"No game, Sin. I'm on the level this time; as this modern time would say. You are not the only one who is suffering and I can't focus my energy on both your Titans and these rebellious Nosferatu," Stefan replied, crossing his arms and wrapping his hands over his elbows.

"What, are the young ones trampling along your graveyards, Stefan?" Sin mocked.

Stefan let his remark go, and said, "They are interfering with my plans and I will not allow any whelps who dare undermine me."

Sin grunted in distaste. "You're still holding onto your dreams of ruling everything…it's that attitude that made me leave."

"I am the only one that is fit to lead our kind to where we rightfully belong. Humans have had their time and have muddled this world time and time again! They are weak compared to the power we hold! Just one of us is a legion when facing an army of humans!" Stefan said in righteous fury.

Sin rolled his eyes. "Can it, Stefan. Last person to talk like that was the cause of World War II and look what happened to him."

"He was a deluded human, nothing more. I have the skills to exceed any conqueror this world has ever seen," Stefan stated.

Sin shrugged his shoulders and held a bored expression. "We're trailing off the topic here, Stefan. I have business to attain to, if you have more to say to be then spit it out."

Stefan scoffed at him. "As I have said, I wish for a truce. In which time, I will keep away from your Titans..."

Sin glared at him, he knew Stefan was a master of manipulating words. "Until you say you will not do anything to Raven or my fledgling, Robin, I will not accept this truce."

Stefan nodded, but his eyes held something sinister in them. "Then you have it. I will halt my immediate plans for the half-demon and not challenge your fledging. But this truce will not last, Sin."

"I expect that," Sin replied. "But trust me, Stefan. If you're only using this truce as a cover-up for your schemes, then you'll only sink farther in my eyes." his eyes darkened. "And I will hold no hesitation in killing you the next time we meet."

Stefan bowed his head. "I will keep my word and as a sign of good faith, I will let you know when this truce comes to an end."

"How decent of you…" Sin sneered sarcastically.

Stefan smiled at him. "You could make this easier for both of us if you joined with me again, Sin."

Sin sighed. He was getting tired and irritated. "My answer will always be the same."

Now Stefan sighed. "Why…why can't you see my reasoning!"

"Because I already walked that road you're walking now, and nothing good ever came from it," Sin replied. "You'll destroy yourself one way or another if you continue of this path."

"I fear not the path, for I know I will accomplish where even you, the Bringer of Death, failed," Stefan said firmly.

"I didn't fail, Stefan, I walked away from it. I once held this world in the grasp of my hand, but I saw soon that it would lead this world into chaos and death," Sin replied. "…I do not wish to see you make the same mistakes I did.

"I will make no mistakes, Sin," Stefan said in arrogant confidence.

Sin shook his head sadly. "You already are…by thinking that way." Sin walked up to him and past him. "Farewell, Stefan…"

Stefan grabbed his shoulder and forced him to stop. "Don't walk away from me again, Sin!"

Sin shook his hand off him and kept his eyes from looking at him.

Stefan growled in frustration at him. "Look at me!"

"I can't…I can't bear to look at what you have become," Sin said mournfully. "I wanted nothing more than to come back to you, Stefan…but every time, I saw your hunger eating you from the inside and slowly turning you into something else."

Stefan kept silent and lowered his head. "I can't stand this world as it is anymore, Sin. I know I can make a difference. I want to bring order!"

"Many have said that and only chaos is created," Sin replied. "We are the children of the night, Stefan. That is what we are and that is what were meant to be. We have no right to say we are gods or deities to mankind!"

"Next to humans, we are!" Stefan argued. "We have powers that they only dream of! We can change the fate of this world ten times over by the merest whim. It is we who should rule this earth, not them."

"And you think you are the right one who knows what's best for us all?" Sin said in contempt.

"No…" Stefan replied.

Of all the things that Sin expected him to say, it wasn't that. "What?"

Stefan looked at him with a mixture of emotions in his eyes. "I know that even I have limits, Sin. But I have the ability to break them, just like you. That's why I want you to be by my side! You and I, we can make this world so much better than it could be! Can't you imagine it, Sin? A world with no more war, no more death. We can rise together and become true gods if we joined."

"It is good to dream…" Sin said, smiling as his eyes dazed over. "I remember the nights we would discuss such a world. No more pain…it would be a goal worth fighting for, if it were possible."

"No, Sin!" Stefan walked up to him, standing but an inch from his face. "We can make it possible! You and I were unstoppable together! And now, all the tools we need are within reach."

Sin withdrew from his thoughts and took a step away from him again. "You mean use Raven to bare a child so you can drink its blood and become a true immortal." His voice had become dark enough to make even the devil shake.

Stefan waved his hands, infuriated. "I will let her live after she has bore a child, if you wish to keep her so much!"

"And what of her child?" Sin snapped.

"She can have more; it's not as if she is unable to give birth to more than one?" Stefan said curtly.

"It's not that she could have more, it's that she would have to see her first child, the first life she'd bring into this world, be killed right before her eyes after it left her womb," Sin said darkly, his anger relieving itself as the shadows became thicker around him.

"I'm sure we can figure out a way to keep the child alive without draining it completely," Stefan said offhandedly.

"I'm not going to risk the chance. The blood would be too tempting, even for you and me," Sin retorted.

"Dammit, Sin! Why? She cannot mean more to you then what we once were!" Stefan roared.

"She can. Because she's my daughter," Sin said simply. He stood calm now.

Stefan snarled at him but kept himself in check. To make a move now while he was angry while Sin was relaxed would be a big mistake. If he did, Sin would most likely have the upper hand. Stefan breathed slowly, not because he needed to, but to give him something to focus on to calm himself.

"Fine…I see you have decided what your fate will be," Stefan said with a hollowed voice. He walked up to Sin and touched his face.

Sin didn't move or flinch from his touch. He let Stefan run his cold fingers over his cheek and down to his jaw line.

"I will keep my word about the truce. Maybe during that time…you will change your mind," Stefan said softly.

Sin grabbed his hand, gently, and pulled it away from his face and squeezed it lightly. "Maybe you will be the one to change your mind."

Stefan chuckled but no mirth was held in it. "We will see…" Stefan moved an inch closer to Sin, so close that their nose almost rubbed together. "Here is a little something to show that I haven't lost all my emotions…"

He used his other hand to caress the other side of Sin's head and pulled him toward him and pressed his lips against the grinning Nosferatu's. Sin remained still as Stefan kissed him, he remembered very well the feel of those lips and missed them more than he would let Stefan ever know. But he couldn't return the affection, knowing that he would give in to Stefan and doom everyone. He allowed the kiss to continue for a minute, then slowly pushed Stefan off him.

Stefan looked disappointed. "You used to melt in my hands whenever I did that."

"I only let myself melt to you back then," Sin replied plainly.

"Hah, hah! I know you too well, Sin. You still long for me, time will prove that you do," Stefan said, smiling and walking away from Sin. "I will be waiting for when you change your mind, Sin…You will never be able to forget me." And he was gone in a blanket of red mist.

When he knew Stefan was gone Sin leaned against a building and let himself shake uncontrollably, covering his face with one hand. Stefan was right, he would never be able to forget him.

"Sin? What are you doing here?" a voice spoke up.

Sin pushed form the wall and looked ready to kill, until he saw Charion walking up to him from down the sidewalk. He was dressed in a black business suit with a gray tie and gray dress shirt and black dress shoes; in his left hand he held a walking cane. Sin quickly composed himself and put on his devilish mask.

"Hello, Charion. I needed to ask you for some men to help me protect Jump City," Sin replied with a calm, sardonic tone.

Charion eyed him but didn't say whatever was obviously on his mind. "Hmm, I think I know just who you want. I can have them ready for you within the hour."

"Thank you…Charion, would you mind having a few drinks with me?" Sin offered.

"Of course!" Charion agreed, then looked at him with concern. "Sin, is everything all right? You only want to drink when something's bothered you badly."

"Yes…I'm bothered, indeed," Sin admitted. "And I wish to get blasted to forget it…"

Charion patted his shoulder. "Come, I'll buy the drinks."

Sin thanked him again and the two headed for the nearest pub.

As they walked, Charion spoke up. "Stefan's scent is rather strong on you, Sin."

Sin cursed silently in his mind. "I had a little run in with in just now."

"And you didn't kill me?" Charion said in wonder.

"…" Sin kept his eyes locked in the direction they were walking.

Charion sighed heavily. "Sin, I know you still harbor feelings for him, but he's not the same like he was a hundred years ago. He's changed into a power tycoon. Nothing matters to him other than sating that hunger. He'll use your feelings to control you, you know this."

"I know it," Sin replied bitterly. "I thought I was over him, but after just now…" Sin fell quiet. Charion waited patiently for him to continue and stayed quiet until he did. They walked another block before Sin spoke up again. "…I cannot allow him to succeed. I can't forget the time I've shared with him, but that was then. I have a family and if he wins, they'll all die…I can't let that happen, not again before my eyes…"

Charion lowered his gaze. "I understand, Sin."

Sin chuckled roughly. "Yes, you would be the only one to understand fully."

Charion chuckled himself. "I still remember that day I found you curled inside that hollowed tree, with a look of an animal in your eyes. Hard to believe now you were ever that beast that ripped my arm off and tried using it to beat me with. Hah, hah, hah!"

"Heh, heh! I barely remember doing that. I was too overwhelmed by my Beast to remember anything I did those decades ago," Sin admitted.

Charion punched him lightly on the arm. "You remembered doing that! Don't try denying it!"

"Maybe," Sin snickered.

The two men thundered with laughter down the foggy streets of London. Unaware that high above them, standing on one of the buildings, Stefan was glaring with anger at the old Nosferatu next to Sin.

"Damn old fool!" Stefan hissed. "I almost had him!"

A shadow appeared next to him; Blackfire kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Stefan's left leg. She cuddled her face against the fabric of his trouser, but no flicker of passion or love was on her face. Her gesture was more submissive like a cat to its master.

"Do you wish me to kill him, master?" Blackfire asked emptily.

"No," Stefan answered curtly. "…I have something else in mind for the old fool. A simply death would be too merciful for him, he will pay for his muddling."

"Why do you need Sin, master? You're stronger than him," Blackfire commented.

Stefan ran an idle hand through his marionette's hair. "Because I want him by my side. He is the only one that I see worthy to rule next to me, no one else. He's mastered a magic I haven't learned nor capable of learning on my own…That power would be a great asset to have in hand."

Blackfire didn't reply. Her lost will made it so she would not argue with him. If he wished it, then she would accept it without a single thought. Stefan stopped stroking her hair and gestured her to rise up. She did as he commanded and stood ready for his next order.

"Go to my contact in the Council and tell him it's time to proceed with phase two," Stefan commanded.

Blackfire nodded her head. "Yes, master…"

Over in Jump City, Desdemona was being giving the grand tour of Titan Tower by Raven.

"Whoa, you guys sure have it good here. I'd love to live in a place like this," Desdemona remarked.

"Glad you like it, especially since you'll get to stay here for a while," Raven replied.

"I still can't believe Sin is Robin's Sire or that he lives here with all you guys, too!" Desdemona said.

Raven smiled warmly. "Yeah, he's really something…"

Desdemona saw her smile and elbowed his arm. "He's hot, isn't he?"

Raven blushed and hit her back. "I think of him like a father!"

"Oh?" Desdemona uttered. "So…you never thought of him as anything more than that, huh?"

"I first thought of him as an insane lunatic when I met him, but it all changed when he saved me from my real father," Raven replied, keeping her face neutral.

"Yeah, that was my first impression of the guy…he's an oddball for sure," Desdemona said.

"It's just how he is," Raven replied, and continued the tour.

When they finished, Raven led Desdemona to the living quarters and led her to one of the rooms.

"You can use this room…it's not being used anymore and we don't have any other rooms for you to stay in right now," Raven said.

Desdemona stared at the door. "Who used to use it before me?"

"A girl named Terra. She was once a Titan, but later betrayed us to a madman named Slade…Although she betrayed us, she did save us all in the end," Raven replied with a tone of remorse. "I thought she was no better than Slade himself when she became his apprentice. I wished I had a chance to tell her I was sorry."

"Did she die?" Desdemona asked.

"Kinda. When she confronted Slade, her powers triggered a volcanic eruption and she used all her powers to stop it…when it was all over, she was turned to stone," Raven answered.

Desdemona remained silent. There wasn't anything for her to say since she didn't know this Terra girl personally, but the expression on Raven's face told her she was a close friend.

Raven returned from her inner mourning and unlocked the room. "Here you go…Maybe you'll have better luck with it than she did."

"Hey, I don't need to use this room if it means so much to you guys," Desdemona said.

"No, it's alright. Actually, it would be best if you did use it. Just leaving it barren like this just brings back memories of her for all of us," Raven replied.

"Okay, if you say so," Desdemona conceded and walked into the room.

Her first thoughts about the room was that it could use a change in décor. She didn't voice it knowing the value it had for the Titans. Maybe once they got used to her living in it, she might ask them if she can change a few things to her liking. She threw her bag on the bed and examined the rest of the room. Raven stood patiently at the door waiting for her to ask if she need anything. Or that was her excuse for staying in the room. She was reminiscing the times she spent with Terra and Starfire in this room when they had a girl's hangout. She acted like she didn't enjoy them, but really she missed them terribly. They would spend every other night in Terra's room talking about things they couldn't around the boys or things they liked. Why they had it in Terra's room was simple, it was neutral ground. Raven never let anyone in her room for any reason and Starfire's room was too bright for Raven to stand. So they decided to spend their time in Terra's room and they actually had such a wonderful time…That is, until they discovered Terra was a spy for Slade. It wasn't the same again. Starfire and her tried having a hangout on their own, but it always felt as if something was missing, always…

Desdemona finished her inspection of the room and plopped herself on the couch. "This is really nice."

"You can do change it if you want," Raven offered, but she looked up at the starry painted ceiling. "…Except the ceiling, I always liked it."

Desdemona looked up and gazes at the fake constellations. "I wouldn't touch it, anyway. I always liked to at the night sky. It'll make it more comfortable for me in here."

"Alright," Raven said. "If you need anything, let us know and we'll get you want you need."

"How about some blood?" Desdemona asked playfully, eyeing Raven like she was some small prey.

The look caused Raven to blush. "I…I can get you some blood packs from the Infirmary. I'll get you some…"

Before the demoness could leave, Desdemona was off the couch and was suddenly behind Raven. Her hands rested on her arms, not holding them tightly, but enough to let her know she was there. Raven jumped and tried to break free from her grip, but Desdemona tightened her grip.

She leaned her chest against Raven's back and moved her mouth to her ear. "Relax…I'm not gonna hurt you. I just like fresh blood better than that hospitalized shit…all those chemicals they put in the blood makes it taste like crap…thins it too much." She flicked the tip of her tongue over Raven's earlobe, making her jump again and shiver.

Raven collected herself to try and struggle free. "I'm not up to letting anyone sink there fangs in me, especially people I just met."

"Aww," Desdemona pretended to moan. "But you smell so delicious…lilies and ripe plums." She moved her left hand to rest over Raven's stomach and massaged the tensed muscles with her fingers. "Mmm, you feel very nice…"

Raven was very confused at that moment. Here she was being caressed by another woman…and she was liking it! A part of her was saying it was wrong and she needed to get away, but the darker part of her mind, the one that sounded like when her demonic side rose up. It urged her to give in and explore this new arousal. Her reluctances were waning more and more as Desdemona ran her hands over her stomach and slowly rise up to higher places. She felt Desdemona kiss her neck and nip at her skin playfully. It was all so intoxicating…until a voice in her head shouted and this one sounded like Sin's voice.

Raven's eyes opened wide and they glowed crimson, and a black aura enveloped her. " _ **No!"**_ Desdemona was thrown off Raven and landed ungracefully on the floor. Raven wheeled on her and pounced on top of her and hissed at her angrily. " _ **Don't ever touch me without my permission again…**_ "

Desdemona nodded her head rapidly, feeling fear grip her slow-beating heart.

Raven ran one finger down the Nosferatu's face, digging her oddly sharp fingernail down it. She pulled away from her with blood dripping off that digit and licked it hungrily. Her eyes glared her seductively and she inched her face close to hers. " _ **Next time if you want to seduce me…offer some of your blood first.**_ "

Raven then got off her and left the very confused Nosferatu in her room, looking flabbergasted. Raven stalked away from the room and quickly made it to her room. Just as she closed her door, she closed her eyes and leaned against the door. An overwhelming feeling of desire was rocking her body, and it wasn't same that she craved when she and Robin were in a heated embrace. This was something else entirely, and she knew it all too well what it was…

"No…Dammit, no!" Raven cursed. "I thought it would go away with him…"

Something triggered it again and she wanted to get away from everyone as fast as she could. She made up her mind and ran to the window, opening it with her telepathy and was almost out of it when her door opened; she had to get away before it overtook her. She was halfway out the window when her door open and Robin came in quickly.

"Raven? Is something wrong? I felt something through our bond and I was worried that…Raven?" Robin became quiet when he saw her halfway out the window, and his concern grew when he saw her eyes glowing in the shadow of her hood.

Raven closed the window and stalked toward Robin. It was too late now, it had control of her and she had no more will to keep it at bay. Now all that matter was satisfying the need clawing under her skin. She grabbed Robin and with a strength unfamiliar for her, she lifted him up and threw him onto her bed. Robin was too overwhelmed by what just happened to react the right way, when Raven joined him on the bed and pinned him down with her body.

"Raven…what are you doing?" Robin asked fearfully, he didn't like the look she had in her eyes. It was the same look he would get when he hungered…

She ignored his question and worked on removing his chest plate and ripping his shirt off. She pushed his trench coat and his ripped shirt down his arms and used the ruined fabric to tie his arms behind him with her powers. He knew he could easily break free from his restraints, but he was curious to know what Raven was planning on doing. And truth be told, he actually liked being dominated by her. She didn't waste pain with foreplay as they normally did. She placed her face right over his motionless chest and bit him in the same place where his scar was. He hissed at the pain and fought to keep from squirming under her. She bit down on his flesh as if she was going to eat him. Blood surged up from the huge wound and her tongue darted around it greedily and she sucked on the wound like her life depended on it.

Robin cried out and heard fabric tear as his arms were slowly breaking his bonds. Raven growled at him like an animal as his movement was making her spill blood everywhere. She slapped him hard enough to toss his head to the side.

"Don't move again…or I'll make you regret it," Raven warned.

Robin wasn't sure what to make of her threat. Feeling it was best to do as she said; he settled down as best he could and let her continue sucking on his wound. She drank his blood as if were water…and he secretly loved watching her do it. Feeling a bit daring, he moved, just to see what she would do to him. She shot a glare at him and slapped him again and dug her nails over his collarbone. He cried out again in agony and somewhat in pleasure.

"Move again and I'll only make it worse," Raven hissed, licking her bloodied lips.

"Yes, Raven…" Robin said.

She pushed her nails deeper into his flesh. "I didn't say you could speak."

He closed his eyes and had to fight to keep from bucking his body from the intense pain. She smiled and it was quite an evil looking smile as her teeth and lips were coated with his blood. It ran down her chin and down the front of her leotard. He couldn't stop this body from reacting from the sight and instantly was uncomfortable in his pants. Raven must have realized his discomfort as she looked down and moved her hips over the bulge under his pants.

"I see my little toy likes my treatment," Raven purred, grinding her groin over his pulsing bulge.

He fought to keep from moaning as she would consider that speaking and hurt him more. She widened her bloody smile and began working herself out of her clothes, only taking off her belt and cloak and her boots and gloves. Robin wanted to see her see her naked so badly and watch his blood run down her body, but he didn't dare voice his desire. He would have to wait until Raven wanted to do it and who knew how long that would take. What she did do was roll her left arm out of her leotard and push it down enough to expose her left breast. That was more than he could have hoped for, because her skin under the leotard was stained red.

She leaned her head back and sighed happily, running her hands over the blood on her chin and neck. The gesture caused lines of blood to rain down to her chest and her bare bosom. It was torture from him. He wanted to lick her clean and do so many things he never thought of doing with her before. He always was gentle with her with his nature; he had to be. If he let himself go too far, he would hurt her and he would hate himself for all eternity for causing her pain. But that didn't seem to bother Raven at this moment as she was now back down to his chest and biting him in different spots. Each spot she left was a perfect set of her teeth marks in his flesh. It was painful and he was taking a lot of damage, but he never once wished for her to stop.

Raven bit her way up to his collarbone, to his throat, and that was when he couldn't stop himself from crying out her name. Her teeth ripped more than flesh from him, it pulled out a sensation he never thought imaginable from such carnage. His whole body was going rigid with it and crawled at his skin. She didn't reprimand him for his outburst, for she was too busy drinking his essence from an artery she punctured and suck on it lovingly. She finally was satisfied and pulled away from Robin, sitting on top of him and let the warm fluid glide down her throat and over her skin, and then she suddenly opened her eyes wide, which had returned to their normal state and horror was filled in them. She stared down at Robin and cried out softly as she saw the bloody laceration she caused on him.

"Robin…I…oh, please, forgive me!" Raven mourned, falling down and wrapping her arms around him.

Robin winced a bit. Already his vampiric abilities were repairing the damage she inflicted on him. "Ouch! I'm fine, Raven. I rather enjoyed it, if you can believe it."

Raven looked up at him with tearful eyes. "I thought it was gone when Trigon's influence left me…but it's still with me."

"What's still with you?" Robin asked curiously.

"My cravings…the cravings all demons have," Raven said hollowly. "They make me lust for pain and blood…I guess in a way I have vampiric desires as you and Sin."

Robin sat himself up difficultly, as his arms were still tied. Raven helped him sit up enough so his back was resting against her headboard.

"How long have you been fighting these cravings, Raven?" Robin asked.

"Since I hit puberty…" Raven replied sadly. "I almost killed one of the monks...After it was all over; it only confirmed to the rest of the monks that I had to control my emotions all the more. I had to push back all my desires as I had to do with my emotions, Robin. And there had been moments when I wanted to do so much to you...like I just did now."

Robin looked down at himself and smirked at his still healing body. "You don't have to hold yourself back with me, Raven. Look at me, I've taken what you did to me and I'm still aching for more."

"You can't mean that…" Raven said.

"But I do," Robin said seriously. "Raven, I've wanted to do things like this with you since we first made love."

"But it's not normal…" Raven protested.

Robin gave her a look. "Who says anybody knows what's normal? I'm a vampire, Raven. I want to drink blood and soak in it. I want to ravel in the fear of my opponents and watch as they squirm…I think your cravings are perfectly normal compared to mine."

Raven soaked in all he said and shook her head some. "Why is it that whatever you say makes me feel so better? I fucking cut you up with my teeth and you're saying you enjoyed it!"

Robin smiled. "Yes."

Raven started laughing and slapped his chest as she laid her head on his shoulder. Robin leaned his head against hers and laughed with her.

When Raven stopped laughing, she pulled her head back up and gaze into his mismatched eyes. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Love me. Fuck me. Never stop biting, baby," Robin replied with the most intimate look in his eyes.

Raven purred lightly and kissed him. He smiled in the kiss and ran a hand through her hair. When she needed to breathe again, she repositioned herself over his lap and rocked her hips over his excitement. She tested his willingness to let her bit him by taking his bottom lip between her teeth and chewed on it teasingly. He rolled his eyes and raised his hips up to grind between her legs. Her eyes glowed white and two pairs of handcuffs appeared out of her dresser and floated to her hand.

Robin raised a questionable eyebrow at her. "When did you get those?"

Raven hid her blush by busying herself with untying Robin's stripped bonds and took reach of his hands and cuffed them to the headboard.

"Let's just say you weren't the only one wanting to do this kinda stuff…" Raven blushed.

Robin grinned playfully. "What else do you have hidden?"

"…We'll get to that later," Raven murmured.

"Can't wait," Robin said excitedly.

Raven smiled at him and re-straddled his lap and unrolled her other sleeve, so she could push her leotard down to her waist. Robin watched her intensely. His eyes traveled from when she pulled her arm free from her sleeve and pushed it down to bare all her upper body to him. He was very happy to see his desire from earlier was coming true; her pale skin was smeared with blood that soaked past her leotard. Then slowly, his gaze traveled up her reddish pale skin and hunger and desire filled him to the brim.

She fulfilled another part of his desire by leaning down so her ample breasts dangled over his face. He let his tongue slip out from his mouth and licked them as they came in reach. She purred above him and placed her hands on either side of him to better steady herself. She rocked her chest over his face and rubbed the bulging rod in his pants with her lower intimate area. Back and forth she moved, letting the tension between them build even more for release. It was now a game to see who would crack first and beg; a game that Raven has learned very well. And it was vice versa for Robin, as he knew just what to do to make her break…

He only moved his hips as Raven rocked over his body, wanting to make her think she was causing him discomfort with need. He'd let her continue thinking that until the time was right. While waiting, he continued using his tongue to clean her chest of his own blood, teasing her dark nipples whenever they came close enough. A problem he easily could remedy as his tongue now could reach farther than it once could, and used on other occasions to pleasure her in other areas. His actions were proving to be working, because Raven was gasping lightly and rolling her head back some.

"Oh, yes…" Raven moaned.

Robin retracted his tongue when he licked up the last drop of blood. "Did you like that?"

Raven slapped his face. "I don't recall saying you could speak."

Robin shook the stinging feeling off with a shake of his head. He smirked up at her somewhat, but reframed from speaking. She wanted to continue being the unexpected game; he sure wasn't going to stop her.

Raven smiled. "Good boy…Now…" She slid out of her leotard and panties and moved up his body and straddled his face. "Pleasure me, and if you do it right, I might reward you."

Robin nodded and clamped his mouth over her glistening womanhood and sucked. She threw her head back and moaned like a wild thing while moving her hips. He ravaged her core with his mouth and entered her with his long tongue, caressing her inner walls with it. She almost lost it from his penetration; she had to grab the headboard of her bed to keep from falling forward. He lapped up all her juices, using his tongue to make it all slide down his throat like a bee would with nectar from a flower; only this nectar was sweeter.

After about two minutes of this treatment, she came, which he easily licked up since his mouth was still clamped over her cunt. She panted for breath and moved herself off his face. Raven ran her fingers over his chest while letting the afterglow ride her body.

"That was…decent," Raven spoke finally.

Robin licked the last remains of her orgasm off his lips. Raven leaned down and bit his nipple and looked up at him with lust burning in her eyes. Robin moaned and tossed under her.

"Does my slave like the pain?" Raven said through her teeth, which were still biting his nipple.

He nodded his head hastily. She bit his nipple harder and let go when she was sure she left a good imprint of her teeth on it.

"Speak! What do you want, slave?" Raven ordered.

"I want to be inside you right now and biting your neck…Master," Robin said, it made him crazier with need actually calling her that.

Raven moved so her groin rubbed again over the bulge in his pants. "I'll give you a better place to bite, slave."

She maneuvered back some so she could take his pants off and watch as his full glory stood proud before her. She took it in her hands and massaged it as she positioned herself over it and came down on top of him. He sighed with ecstasy and fought not to bulk like a horse under her. She moved her hips in a rough, fast-paced rhythm, riding him senselessly. Lust drove her now and it only cared to be satisfied. Upon hearing Robin baring his fangs as he moaned wildly, she remembered what he asked for. She leaned far enough down to allow Robin access to her breasts again, not stopping with her motion, and placed her hands on his shoulders to support herself better in the position.

"Good ahead…take my blood from its source," Raven said with a lusty, seductive voice.

Robin reached up with his mouth and bit the spot right on her breast where her heart beat behind. She hissed sharply, but not from pain this time. Oh, it hurt, there was no denying that, but she really grown to like his fangs puncture her skin and it made things tighten inside her. At that moment, something happened; Raven felt her power growing and expanding out into the room, turning the world around them in darkness. Her body had a whitish outline aura, bringing light to the void, and she wasn't the only one. Under her, Robin was glowing with his own aura around him, a sheet of dark purple covered him like a second skin and the blood on his face began to glow, too. It shined on his face like red molten lava and glowed downed his mouth and throat like he was transparent. The bloody settled in his stomach, giving a perfect outline of it as it filled him and it started crawling throughout the rest of his body.

Raven was too overwhelmed by the sudden rush of power to make much sense of what was happening. All she could do was ride it until it was over. It surged between them and grew as they neared their individual orgasm. She managed to look down her body and found that the red energy had spread exactly everywhere in Robin, including the appendage he was penetrating her with. When she saw it, she suddenly became aware of the intense warmth growing deep inside her and she screamed out as it exploded, flooding her body with energy. As if that wasn't enough, it was also at that time that Robin climaxed, causing her own, and sending her into a world she never knew existed.

The power shot straight up inside her being, rocking her soul through this new world of sensation. She was lost in the power and knew somehow that Robin was in this same world with her. They floated in a world of twilight and shadows. Colors that exist only when light fades and darkness rolls in lived in this odd world. Something was moving in the shadows that blended in with the colors. It was huge! It was the size of Titans Tower and moved with a grace too unnatural for a being of its size to have. Fear gripped them as it began to take a form of a dragon!

The great beast was long and slender, but it was bulky around its massive chest and shoulders. The head was decorated with a crown of black horns and a silky, long mane twirled behind it. On its back were grand feathery wings, almost angelic in a dark, eerie way. The end of its thick tail was forked and looked as sharp as a spear, and its talons were bigger than three transit buses. The two Titans were extremely intimated by this beast, and even more by its pitch black eyes.

The dragon leaned its head down to them, as if to inspect them more closely. It stared at them intensely for a moment and a soft growl rose up from its throat and it withdrew its head from them.

" _ **You, the one with the Evil Eye, you are the dark child of the Shadowwalker, are you not?"**_ The dark dragon said in their minds.

Robin held Raven close to him. He tried to speak, but his voice wasn't working. He quickly gave up when he say the dragon was getting impatient with him, and tried speaking with his mind to it. This had the correct effect.

'… _You mean, Sin?'_

The dragon growled which could have been mistaken for a laugh. _**"Is that what he calls himself now? Yes, it is he I speak of. Are you his child!?"**_

Robin winched from the force of its words. ' _I am…'_

" _ **Hmm, you are a unique creature, a creature of the night that may wake in the light…such a rare thing, indeed,"**_ The dragon remarked.

' _Uh, hey! Where are we? And…who are you?'_ Robin asked.

The dragon looked back down at them with a stern look. _**"I am the Dragon of Shadows, it is my will that keeps this realm in check, and you can only enter if you've summoned enough power to break in."**_ It didn't sound very happy with that last remark.

' _We didn't mean to break in here…we just uh?'_ Robin trailed off as the dragon moved its head back down to them.

" _ **I am not as displeased as I would have been, if you were some other intruder. The only thing that has spared your lives is that you have your master's scent,"**_ The dragon replied.

' _How do you know, Sin?'_ Raven inquired.

" _ **Your master came here a long time before either of you existed. He found his way through the darkness into my realm and I confronted him with entering my realm…but he was an unusual creature, as you two are,"**_ The dragon replied. _**"His very presence in my realm affected its power as my presence does, he was indeed a being of darkness, and I halted from destroying him, for the sake he was….good company."**_

' _Good company?'_ Robin echoed, with a look of confusion.

" _ **He provided me with intelligent conversation that I haven't had in eons,"**_ The dragon said, bowing its head somewhat. _**"He never was once afraid of my power. He was either a brave being…or a rather foolish one. Yet he continued to show me the proper respects and I allowed him to live and even stay here for a time."**_

' _How did Sin get in here?'_ Raven asked.

" _ **The darkness willed him here,"**_ The dragon replied. _**"It recognized him as he became more aware of it, and because of that, I saw him more than a mere insufficient creature."**_

The two Titans were well beyond shocked. The last thing either expected was this.

' _Uh, I'm glad you're not going to kill us…and you know Sin, but how do we get back?'_ Robin asked.

The dragon locked its black eyes on Robin. _**"…I will see you return, but I must tell you something before you depart my realm."**_

Robin fought hard to maintain his eye contact with the dragon. _'What do you want to tell us?'_

" _ **There is a greater power within you both now. By crossing into my realm, you have exposed yourselves to its raw power and by that; you will find more strength than you originally had before. Use this power with great care, and with those words, I shall give you my blessings and let you depart in peace,"**_ the dragon said.

Before either could question the dragon, it waved its front-right claw, and the two felt a fallen sensation and they were back in Raven's room. Robin was still handcuffed to the bed with blood covering his mouth. Raven sat on top of him and soaked in sweat. She felt a tingle of energy still crawling on her skin. She remembered Robin was still with her when he moved and she felt him still inside her.

"What the hell was that?" Robin said.

"…I…I don't know," Raven said, gasping as his movement triggered another orgasm.

Robin smiled teasingly. "Sorry, I'd have moved, but I'm a little tied up at the moment."

Raven blushed, but she didn't move off him. "It's okay…I'm just so shell-shocked with what just happened."

"Me, too…" Robin admitted. "I'm really confused right now."

"There's nothing we can do right now, but wait till we can talk to Sin and ask him about that dragon," Raven replied, then smiled at him and ran her nails over his chest.

Robin sighed with pleasure from her touch and locked his mismatched eyes on her. "Even after all that, you still want another go?"

Raven shrugged. "I can't help it…you just look so damn hot right now."

Robin laughed and his motion rocked her body, making her moan and move her hips. He felt himself return inside her and Raven meet him with pushing her hips down on him.

In a pub in England, Sin was laughing like a madman while a baffled Charion sat next to him, staring at his friend and wondering if he snapped again.

"Sin, why are you laughing so hard?" Charion demanded.

Sin regained himself to glance at his friend. "Stefan! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! He has no idea what he's handling now!"

"All right…?" Charion uttered, and then looked at the paled bartender. "Get me another bottle of whiskey…your strongest brand, please."

Sin laughed so hard he fell out of his chair, with a bottle in his hand, that he was drinking from but a moment ago. "Stefan! HAHAHAHAHA! You're so screwed!"

Charion looked back at the bartender. "Bring two whiskeys…"

A/N: Before anyone sends remarks about Sin being gay and that's wrong. Let me point out a few things. Those of you who are vampire fans should know these. Vampires are known to be bisexual people. You never see anyone complaining when it's a woman doing a woman, so shut the hell up when it's the same with men. There's no big difference, just the opinion of those who are homophobic. I'm not against people who are, except when they are dicks and fuming it out. (No pun intended) And if anyone here reads Anna Rice, there's a good enough example right there without explanation. And to ease everyone's mind, there will be no heavy Yaoi contents in this story…unless I get reviews saying otherwise, but even then, I won't do much of it, so please in your reviews keep open minded. Thank you and thank you for understanding. This is a story, that's all it is.


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans, only the plot and the following characters: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, Ruby, and Charion. Desdemona Aimee Graves is the rightful property of Grave_of_Desdemona.

A/N: Thank you all who kept an opened mind about the last chapter. And again, thank you all for your unlimited patience with me.

Now, I'm sure many of you have seen Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo and it might seem pointless now to some…mostly those that are Robin/Starfire fans…for us Robin/Raven fans to continue our fanfics. Well, that's not what I'm going to do. I'm going to continue on writing whom I think should be together. This fanfic has nothing to do with the movie as it's based three years ahead of the series and events from the show have already taken part, so even if Robin was with Starfire, which he was at the beginning of this story; I easily changed that outcome with this story…So anyone that is downhearted by the movie, just remember, things can change and with the way the world works people part and re-meet those that they truly were meant for. Maybe that's just a hopeless way of looking at it to some, but I don't care. It's my choice and my thoughts. Anyone that disagrees with me probably shouldn't be reading this in the first place. But those that do, I thank you for understanding and support. Okay, I've ranted enough today. LOL!. Let's get on with the continuation, shall we?

 **Lament of Darkness**

The following night Sin came back with news that arrivals would be coming to aid them in the protection of the city. He didn't say when, just that they'll be coming soon. As it was, they were in the common room at that moment with him, discussing about the 'arrivals'.

"How many vamps are we going have to deal with?" Cyborg asked. "We've got enough to deal with right now. How do we know these guys won't try something around Raven?"

Sin turned his head in his direction with a malicious look in his eyes. "They'll know what will happen if they undermine my command."

"Command?" Speedy echoed. "You make it sound like they're soldiers or something."

"They are more than soldiers, Speedy," Sin replied. "These are warriors trained over centuries of war. They are the elite of all the Enforcers, my old squad."

"You're old squad?" Beast Boy repeated with curiosity. "You mean, you were an Enforcer, too?"

"I still am…but my skills and presence were needed here in America to keep any foolish Nosferatu from turning it into a new kingdom. I requested the position," Sin replied. The way he said 'requested' made it seem more like a demand.

Which didn't pass by the young archer. "Why would you care what happens here in America. Isn't Europe more your home ground?"

"At the time, America was too young and too vulnerable. If a powerful enough Nosferatu were to plant his seed in its workings. It would have become a nightmare than the dream humans have worked hard to make it," Sin replied, his tone sounding impatient. "I didn't want to have to deal with a whole empire when it would have been simpler to prevent any ideas of domination."

"That could never have happened," Speedy said arrogantly. "America wouldn't have become some cesspool for monsters."

"You truly believe that?" Sin asked, eyeing him. He made his way over to Speedy and gaze down into his stern stare. "…You have no idea how many times America came to being plunged in darkness and raped for its pleasures. I have fought too many battles in the shadows to keep this land safe to be spoken like that to by anyone…" His eyes seemed to shoot a force at Speedy, for he seemed to be pushed back by an invisible hand. "Keep your tongue in check next time."

Speedy was shaking with anger, but he didn't challenge Sin's words and remained silent. Sin seemed satisfied and backed off from Speedy and returned to his spot by the window.

"The people I have chosen to aid us aren't anyone you wish to anger, Speedy. I say this to keep you safe. They won't let your uncontrollable temper go off easily," Sin said, looking out the window. "If you smart mouth them…they will make you suffer for it."

"I can handle myself," Speedy replied defiantly.

At that moment, Robin was right behind him and he placed his arm over Speedy's shoulder. Speedy didn't expect the touch and jumped like a scared mouse from the unexpected contact.

"I'm a youngling next to them all, Speedy," Robin said. "But if I wanted, I could at any time take you down like a lion bringing down a gazelle, and you would never know you were dead until it was too late."

Speedy jerked out from under Robin's arm. "Don't do that again, Robin!"

Robin stared at him with the same expression Sin was known to use: intolerable.

"Speedy, we're only telling you that if you act like this with the newcomers, you might get hurt," Robin said, trying to sound reasonable for his friend.

Speedy waved his concern away. "Just keep them away from me and all will be fine."

Sin suddenly smacked him over the head.

"Hey!" Speedy growled, glaring at the Nosferatu. "What the fuck was that for?"

"You're acting like a child. I figured it served you right to treat you like one just then," Sin growled back.

Speedy was about to chew him out, when he caught Starfire's look. His blood went very cold. She was eyeing him with faintly glowing eyes, predatory eyes. And not just her but Raven as well. Her eyes promised great pain if he dare rise up his anger. He grunted at them and looked away, crossing his arms.

"You will not mistreat them, Speedy. Do I have your word you will keep your tongue and anger in check?" Sin demanded.

Speedy's answer was a grunt and a nod.

Sin frowned. "I guess that will be the best I will get out of you."

Speedy grumbled a few curses at him.

Sin ignored him and moved on. "I have already prepared a sanctuary for them to rest while they are here, none of them will be staying here."

"Why? Wouldn't it be more helpful if they stayed with us?" Beast Boy advised.

"No. I trust them to do their duty, but I don't trust the devil in them," Sin replied. "I cannot let them be tempted with Raven while they are here. And it would cause me grief if I had to kill them."

"You would kill your own comrades?" Starfire gawked in disbelief.

Sin gave her a dead look. "I said it would grieve me, and that is all it will do."

Starfire paled and lowered her eyes to the floor. Lynx pet her hair and was also looking at the floor.

Sin sighed inwardly. "They are my comrades…but I haven't seen any of them for quite some time. I don't know what to expect from them till I see them."

Lynx's left ear perked up. "I think we're about to find out now."

Sin didn't ask him what he meant; he immediately turned to the window. "Hmm, exactly on time…Very good."

The Titans walked over to the window in time to see a black helicopter approaching the Tower. The Titans knew that it wasn't the press or police force; as the former were forbidden to be on the island or its air space. The latter because they were well fortified against any threat, so it was pointless for the police force to aid them. It flew out of their view as it flew up to the top of the Tower. Sin moved faster than most of the Titans could see, disappearing from sight, as did Robin. They rushed up to the roof to see the helicopter begin landing.

It barely finished landing when the side door of the copter flung open. The occupants in it stormed out before the pilot even stopped the propellers. They rushed in low with the speed and efficiency of trained soldiers and lined up before Sin and Robin. The first one on the far left was a woman, looking in her late teens and reminded Robin of a cowboy, or cowgirl in this case. Like most of the Nosferatu that Robin has come across, her clothes were black and made of leather. Even the gothic styled cowboy hat was made of leather, with a blood-red stone embedded in a silver bat whose wings extended around the sides. Her top was a black leather button shirt, with ripped leaves and unbuttoned enough on top to show off a lot of cleavage from her large bust. On her wrists were stubbed bands above fingerless black gloves. Her pants were tight as they could be, squeezing her hips and legs into shapely curves and too low at the hips. Around her waist was a holster with two revolvers hanging in reach of her hands, and a large buckled belt, and black cowboy boots with sliver spurs, with a bowie-knife sticking out of the right boot. On her large belt, she carried rounds after rounds for her two visible guns.

The one standing next to her was almost as tall as Sin, just a hair inch shorter. Most of his body was concealed behind an oversized brown trench coat. What were visible on his person were the baggy camouflage pants and the thick boots under the rim of his coat. His hands were hidden in his pockets, and so was half of his face, as the collar of his coat raised up to hide his mouth and the tip of his nose. On the brim of his nose, rested round-lens sunglasses that hid his eyes and a brown bandanna kept his wild black hair out of his face.

The next one down the line was a very thin man with no curves or muscular built. He was dressed in all black, in a full leather suit that screamed assassin. His black curly hair was cut to just below his ears and buzzed where the curls ended. He had a moustache and a goatee on his elfish looking face. Around his shoulders and waists were straps of kunai knives and other assortment of blades. Two sickle blades hanging on either side of his hips posed as his likely main choice of weapons. Two daggers in sheaths stuck out of his combat boots.

The last one in the line was a frail looking woman. Her brown wavy hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, showing off her pointy ears. Her almond shaped eyes were the most outstanding of her features. She was thinner and less curvy than the man with blades. Her clothes looked to be made from animal skins: wolf, fox, and a mountain lion made up her tunic, with eagle claws acting as buttons for it. Her pants looked to be made from black snake skin. On her forearms were leather armbands with bear claws strapped to the top of them. On her hide boots were a pair of wolf or coyote bones tied over the shin of them. Other than her animal skin clothing, she didn't appear to be carrying any visible weapons.

Sin smiled and began walking up to the squad. Just as he did, the man with blades disappeared from the line and from sight. Robin jerked his head around, until he heard the sound of clashing steel and flesh being sliced. Robin turned to Sin's direction and found that he was standing over the man with blades, with his sword impaled in his shoulder and holding one of his sickle blades in his hand.

"What the hell?" Robin gawked. He drew his Bo Staff and readied it for battle. "Why did you attack us?!"

The man with blades ignored Robin and glared up at Sin. "You haven't lost your skills."

Sin grinned viciously. The grin made the man with blades quiver slightly.

"Still the ambitious man, aren't you, Grimm?" Sin chuckled.

The man addressed as Grimm snarled at him. "You left our team, Sin. I had to be sure you were still at the top of your game…"

Sin sneered at him. "Bullshit, Grimm. I know you too well to know that you didn't want to give up leadership over the team back to me. You'd have stabbed one of your blades in me before you ever did."

"I am and have been the rightful leader," Grimm growled.

Sin grunted at him in contempt and kicked him, the force pushed him off his sword, and he dropped Grimm's sickle blade on the ground.

"Then why are you on your ass and I'm the one standing?" Sin inquired, grinning devilishly.

Grimm looked like he was about to jump to his feet and attack again, but the dark cowgirl appeared over him, kneeled, and pointing a revolver at point blank range at his skull.

"Give it a rest, Grimm. Ya lost fair and square," she said with a thick western accent.

"Do not dare to order me, Jesse!" Grimm snapped.

She pressed the barrel of her gun harder against his skull. "Pipe down! Ya got your ass kicked by Sin, makin' him leader again and you second…again."

"I'll never be second to… _him_!" He jerked a thumb up at Sin.

Sin regarded his attitude with mild patience. He sheathed his sword back in his jacket and looked up at Jesse, seemingly forgetting that Grimm was lying on the ground.

"Been a while, Jesse," Sin greeted.

Jesse smirked and tipped her hat to him, but she never took her eyes off Grimm. "Howdy, Sin! Haven't seen ya in ages!"

"You're looking good, more like your mother every decade," Sin complimented.

Jesse smiled at him. "Thank ya, Sin!"

Robin gazed her for a moment. Something about her was…off. "You're not a Nosferatu, are you?"

"Hell, nah! I'm half-an-half," Jesse replied, standing up and holstering her revolver. "I'm a dhampir, cutey." She winked at him.

"Uh…" Robin lost his paleness in the wave of crimson coloring his ghostly complexion.

Jesse let lose a wild laughter that made Robin think of winds blowing over mountains.

She strolled over to him, swaying her curvy hips, and patted his cheek. "Ya got yourself a handsome lad, Sin."

Sin chuckled. "Easy there, Jesse, he's taken already."

She glanced at him for a second and locked her crimson eyes on Robin's. "Makes it all the more fun then!"

Sin touched Robin's shoulder and slowly dragged him away from her. "Not this one. He's my child and you don't want his girlfriend's wrath over your head. Trust me on this."

The dark cowgirl shrugged. "Ah, suit yourself." She walked back to join the other two, looking over her shoulder and winking at Robin. "We'll get to know each other later…and maybe I'll find out why they call ya the Teen _Wonder_ …"

"Don't you mean Boy Wonder?" the man in the trench coat remarked.

"Does he look like a boy to you, Hornet?" Jesse replied, jerking her thumb at Robin.

The trench coat man gazed at Robin. "Compared to us, he's still a larva…"

Sin patted Robin's shoulders and stood behind him. "Don't be quick to underestimate my boy here, Hornet. He's stronger than he looks."

"Evil Eye…" The elfish woman whispered.

Hornet and Jesse, and Grimm once he back on his feet and holding a hand over his wound as it healed, stared at Robin's right eye. Out of the intensity of their stares, he couldn't stop blinking his right freakish eye. He nodded to them, earning a brighter grin from Jesse, a faint nod from Hornet, and a grunt from Grimm. Only the elfish woman didn't respond, she stared him down, as if looking through his being.

"Uh…" Robin glanced up at Sin and pointed at the elfish woman. "Who is she?"

"That's Freya, our best tracker and the only druid Nosferatu," Sin answered. "…But she doesn't talk much, so don't expect a lively chat with her."

Freya flicked her eyes ones up at Sin, and then back at Robin with those wide almond-shaped eyes. She looked at him as if she was reading his soul…like Sin. But her eyes held something else…something eerie behind those pools of crimson and it was really freaking him out…

"Let's go inside and we'll introduce you to the team," Robin suggested quickly, trying to shake off her stare.

Grimm grunted loudly. "You call a group of wet-nose brats, a team?"

Robin was about to turn around to walk back to the door, but that comment brought his anger to surface, and it shined eerily in his right eye. Freya touched Grimm's shoulder.

"Don't challenge Evil Eye…" Freya whispered.

Grimm yanked his shoulder out of her grip. "No whelp of a Nosferatu will cause me to fret."

"Then you have a big surprise in store for you…" Sin said, keeping his devilish grin on his face.

Grimm glared at Robin. "…We will see soon what kind of Nosferatu he will be."

Robin knew off the bat he had his work cut out with this bunch, and he knew he wasn't going to like Grimm at any point of time. Grimm was glaring at him, challenging him to a fight and expecting him to back down from him. Robin grinned and knew that grin matched the same one on Sin's face. It was enough. Grimm faltered and stared at Sin.

"He looks too much like you…" Grimm proclaimed, trying very hard to hide the nervousness in his voice.

"That's not the only thing he got from me," Sin chuckled lightly. "You'll find he's more like me than you want to wish for."

Grimm gave Robin the same arrogant look. "We'll see."

Robin never wanted to use his Evil Eye more than he did at that moment. The pain was growing in his right eye and a little blood was beginning to leak down his cheek. Then he felt a hand land on his shoulder and turned to see Sin giving him a stern look, clearly saying _don't_. Robin counted to ten and fought back the negative anger building up in his eye. He closed his eye to make double sure it didn't release.

"The boy can't seem to control that eye of his…not very good, Sin," Grimm taunted.

"You have it wrong, Grimm," Sin replied with coldness. "If he didn't have control of it, you would be ash at this moment."

"You jest," Grimm sneered.

"You know I never jest with something like this," Sin said, grinning again.

Grimm glared more at him with untold anger. Jesse groaned loudly and walked past him, ramming her shoulder into his arm to jar him from his stare.

"Can we all stop the pissin' contest and see that gal we're supposed to guard?" Jesse said, walking up to Sin and crossing her arms over her chest.

Sin flashed his fangs as he smiled. "So quick to business? That's not like you, Jesse."

"My pa's side, Sin," Jesse replied, smiling at him. "Been havin' to take a lot off his shoulders since you left."

Sin frowned. "…Have things really been so hard when I left?"

"Yeah, they have," Jesse said. "Ya were the one person keeping all the leeches behaving. When ya left, they started gettin' braver and started pushin' everyone around,"

"Hmm, I see," Sin murmured, crossing his arms and rubbing his chin. "Knowing that, I'd go back just to remind them not to cross the lines, but they're are coming here, so there is no point in going back."

"I was hoping ya would say ya was," Jesse admitted with a frown. "I'm gettin' tired of hearin' this buffoon blowing his yapper about how better a leader he was since ya left."

"I am the better man," Grimm stated, his tone saying he firmly believed it.

Jesse continued as if she didn't hear him. "Ya always made the jobs fun and excitin'." She jerked her thumb at Grimm. "But since ya left, this horse's ass has done everythin' to make the job dull as a dry day in Death Valley Desert."

Grimm grabbed her shoulder and yanked her around to look at him. "I made the team, serious, as it should have been." He nodded his head at Sin. "This fool always ran the team as though it were a circus!"

"But it was a fun team then!" Jesse retorted with a fake pout.

Grimm slapped her with a hard blow, knocking her hat off her head. "Do not disrespect me!"

Jesse stared at him with a look in her eyes. Sin noticed the look and knew what it was…fear. He didn't say anything or moved, but Grimm seemed to sense his anger and turned his gaze on the grinning Nosferatu, only he wasn't grinning anymore. It was that look…The one that made him look older and heartless. His eyes gleamed with ruthlessness sharper than a blade and an intensity that could render a soul in total terror.

"Back away from her…now," Sin said slowly and low.

Grimm looked to be fighting his command, his body moved against his will and he stumbled away from Jesse. Sin kept his eyes on him as he walked over to Jesse and picked up her hat and handed it to her. She nervously took it and put it back on, lowing her face so the rim of her hat hid whatever was playing over her face. Sin stalked over Grimm and the closer he got, the more Grimm looked like he was fighting some unseen horror. Robin had a good guess what it was; it was Sin himself, or the power he was emitting. Robin felt it like a blanket of needles wrapping around him and biting into his flesh. He raised his hand up and placed a finger on Grimm's forehead.

Robin felt more horror rise in his throat; he knew what Sin was about to do. "Sin! Don't!"

Sin didn't heed him and touched the black-clad assassin. Instantly Grimm was crying out in pain as his skin started to peel off. Robin grabbed Sin's arm and tried to pull his hand away, but Sin was still stronger than he was. Seeing that pulling on his arm wasn't working, Robin quickly punched Sin under his arm, digging his knuckles as hard as he could. It worked enough to cause Sin to pull his hand away.

Sin turned on him and grabbed him by the throat, squeezing it like a vice. "Do not ever stop me when I'm punishing my men, Robin!"

Robin choked out incoherent words under Sin's grip. He was very afraid of Sin at that moment. In all his time, he never hurt him or looked at him with so much malevolent anger. A flicker past over Sin's eyes and for a moment his eyes revealed horror and confusion, then he slowly released Robin from his death grip and pulled back his shaking hand to his side, but he replaced his heartless expression with a cool, hard one.

"You must understand, Robin. I cannot allow Grimm to harm my people as he just did. To let him, I admit that he is the leader. I cannot allow that," Sin said with an empty tone.

Robin rubbed his sore throat, staring away from him. "That…" he rasped. "Doesn't mean you have to kill him…not like that…"

Something twitched in Sin's eyes, but his expression didn't waver. "Grimm will heal easily in just a few moments; it's not the first time I've done it to him."

"What?" Robin rasped louder. "You've done this on him before!?"

"Grimm deserved it, Robin," Jesse murmured from were she stood, holding a hand over her cheek.

Robin didn't know why, but he was compiled to walk over to her and look under her hat which he did. He examined her face and found deep gashes exposing bone and bleeding badly. Robin didn't remember seeing those before and wondered how Grimm could cause that much damage. Unconsciously, something in him made his left hand rise up to touch her bleeding chin and wipe the dripping blood off the remaining smoothness of her skin. His fingers felt tingly and a blackness glowed over his digits. Robin stared at his hand as some instinct moved his hand over her gashes and the blackness seeped into them and sewed the damaged muscles back together and sealing the skin like hot wax back to perfect, smooth skin. Her expression was wide with wonder as his touch moved over her gashes and sealed them.

When the last gash disappeared, Robin removed his hand. "I…"

Jesse looked at his bloody glove and the black energy still dancing over them. She gingerly touched her face and gave a soft cry and looked back at her teammates.

"He…He has the Shadow Hand," Jesse whispered in awe.

"The what?" Robin gawked at Sin.

Sin looked at his glowing hand. "…That is my ability."

"I've never seen you use it," Robin stated.

"Oh, you have seen me use it, but in a different manner," Sin replied, glancing down at a whimpering Grimm. "You see, the Shadow Hand can heal damaged flesh and ruin it…"

Robin gazed at his hand then at Grimm. "…I…how could I have gotten this?"

' _We'll speak of this later, Robin…For now, we have to maintain a calm front,'_ Sin said in his mind. Out loud to the rest, he said. "This is indeed puzzling."

"It could have something to do with the half-breed," Hornet spoke up in a dull tone.

"You will not refer to her as that, Hornet," Sin growled softly.

He shrugged and looked away. "That's what she is."

Sin stared at him, hard, but he let the matter drop for now. "Come," he ordered. "We will discuss more inside where we all can be more comfortable." He looked down at an almost healed Grimm. "But you, you will not go anywhere near Raven, if you so much as look at her wrongly. Then I will completely render your flesh from your bones, am I understood?"

Grimm looked up at him and bowed his head. "…Understood."

Sin turned on his heels and walked to the exit doors. Hornet picked up Grimm and looked over his shoulder. "Come, Kitten."

"Yes, master…" came a less high-pitched voice.

Robin jerked his head back to the helicopter and saw Kitten get out in black high-heels. She was in a dress, but this one looked more like a straightjacket than an actual dress. It was a dark grey and the skirt of her dress fell down to her ankles, that's where the similarity stopped. Buckled straps wrapped around her arms and torso, covering most of her upper body from waist up to her neck, hiding most of her skin from view. Latches and a series of straps ran over her waist, like a corset. Her hair was pulled back in a short ponytail and her face stared down at the ground as she walked over to Hornet and waited silently at his side.

"Kitten…Are you Hornet's Sanguina?" Robin asked.

She didn't reply in any way. She kept her gaze fixated on the ground. Hornet looked at her and at Robin, but didn't say anything. He hoisted Grimm better in his arm and half carried him to the door. Kitten following quietly behind him with her head still lowered. Freya followed silently behind them, keeping her eyes on Robin until she reached the door, and then pulled her haunting gaze from him. Robin watched her in bafflement, until he felt a warm tongue glide over his right cheek. He froze as the tongue ran up to the corner of his eye and linger there for a moment, and then it withdrew. Jesse encircled her arms around Robin's neck and nuzzled her healed cheek against his now cleaned one.

"Mmm, tasty, very tasty," Jesse purred.

Robin fought a blush and tried to pull himself from her embrace, but his body wouldn't obey his command. She kissed the corner of his mouth and teased him by slipping her tongue into his mouth, grazing his quickly and then pulled it out.

"Why did you do that?" Robin asked in a shaky voice.

"That's my way of sayin' thanks," Jesse purred, running a finger idly over his other cheek. "For healing me…" Her accent changed to a more European one, but one he couldn't decipher.

"…Uh," Robin cleared his throat. "No problem…"

She laughed lightly and patted his chest. "This just might prove to be a fun assignment as I thought it would."

Robin wanted to ask what she meant by that, but she pulled away from him and sauntered over to the door, looking at him over her shoulder with a teasing smirk. "Come on, birdie, we're makin' everyone wait." Her voice returned to its Western tone.

Robin fumbled for a moment, shaking his head, and hurried over, but he kept some distance from her as he walked past her. Jesse watched them like a cat eyeing a dish of cream. That look made Robin quicken his pace back to the common room, where all the other Titans were waiting. He quickly went over to Raven and took her hand into his. She looked at him worriedly and ran her thumb over his shaking hand.

"What happened up there?" Raven whispered with concern.

"…We'll talk later," Robin whispered back. He was very shaken and he couldn't understand why. But when he looked at Jesse and she winked at him, he instantly knew, and he was very worried. His slow beating heart was pumping faster than when he was alive. _'What is wrong with me? She licked me and then…kissed me and now I'm all…it can't be.'_

He looked at her again and that fluttery feeling risen in him again. He looked down at Raven's concerned expression and was gratified to feel the same devotion he always felt for her. It eased his mind some that nothing changed…but he was worried about Jesse.

Speaking of the dhampir, she was watching him and Raven. "So that's the gal, huh?" She strolled up to them with a fair enough smile at them both, but Robin was getting more nervous as she came near them. "She's a lovely thing…I can see why ya fall for her, birdie."

Raven looked up at Robin with a thoughtful look. He gave her a look that said he'll explain everything later.

Jesse leaned down and licked her lips in front of Raven. "Mmm, I bet ya are very tasty…"

"Jesse!" Grimm roared. "Back away from her, now!"

Jesse didn't listen to him. She moved in as if she was going to get her 'taste' of Raven.

"Jesse, it would be a shame to have to hurt you, and it would be a impolite of you to try having your way with Raven after Robin just healed your face," Sin said causally, but the threat was clearly there.

Jesse stopped but she didn't withdraw. "Pity…I was really hopin' to know what the fuss is about ya."

Raven drew back up against Robin. "…You don't hear me complaining."

The dhampir's face fell blank and just stared at them. "Hmm, no ya not."

"Jesse," Sin said again in that causal voice.

She walked away from the dark birds, waving a hand over her shoulder. "I heard ya, geeze. A girl can't have any fun anymore."

Grimm stormed over to her. "You know we are forbidden to touch the half-breed."

Raven's eyes narrowed. "I'm really getting tired of people calling me that."

Grimm didn't respond as if he never heard her. "We are under orders that no one is to drink her blood."

"Who said I was referring to tasting her blood?" Jesse said, giving a knowing look at Raven.

The look made Raven blush and clutch Robin's arm. Robin pulled her unconsciously closer to him. Sin stormed over to Jesse and stood between them and her.

"Jesse, that is enough," Sin growled.

"What do ya mean?" Jesse asked innocently.

"Stop trying to attract them," Sin demanded, and he put more force when he said 'attract' as he spoke.

"What's the big deal, Sin?" Beast Boy asked.

"Jesse, here can make people 'attracted' to her," Sin answered, glaring at Jesse.

"You mean she can make people love her?" Cyborg questioned.

"No, she can't make someone love her. She can make someone lust after her. There's a difference," Sin corrected.

Jesse frowned and crossed her arms over he chest. "Great, tell the whole world why don't ya!"

Robin turned his head to Sin. "…So that explains it."

"Explains what?" Raven asked, looked up at him.

"When I first saw her I…felt, well, attracted to her," Robin said, looking embarrassed, averting his eyes from the jealous gleam in Raven's eyes. "But that's all, Raven. Sin's right, she can't make someone love her." He looked back at her. "Because when I look at you, holding you now, I still feel as I've always felt for you, Raven."

The jealous look in her eyes disappeared and she smiled up at him.

Jesse frowned harder. "…There goes tonight's fun."

Sin shook his head and sighed. "Yeah, same old Jesse."

"Who you calling old?!" Jesse fumed. "I don't look a day over 90!"

Hornet chuckled quietly and patted her shoulder. "Play nice, Jesse. We're on a mission here. We really have no time to play."

"Hornet," Robin said.

The trench coat Nosferatu turned to his direction. "Yes?"

Robin pointed at the quiet Kitten. "What did you do to her?"

Hornet turned to Kitten. "Sin gave her to me. She was like this when he did."

Robin walked over to Kitten, but kept three feet away from her. "Kitten…What's…uh, why are you so…"

"Depressed?" Raven finished for him, coming over to stand with him.

Kitten looked up at Robin and her eyes were filled with anger and sadness. "You made me this way, Robin."

"Whoa, there must be something wrong with her, she didn't call him Robby-Poo," Beast Boy exclaimed.

Robin grimaced at him then turned back to Kitten. "I don't know what you mean."

She glared at him and pointed at him. "You turned me into a slave! A slave for fucking vampires!"

"Nosferatu," Sin corrected.

"I don't care!" Kitten shouted at him. "I used to be a somebody! Somebody important and popular! Now I'm a damn vampire's slave and it's your entire fault, Robin!"

Tears that Robin hadn't noticed before were pouring down her face. She began sobbing and she marched up to him and started beating on his chest with her fists, slapping him a few times. Raven moved to pull her off him, but Robin raised a hand and shook his head. She nodded grimly and watched as Kitten took out her anger on him and cried loudly. Everyone watch her and no one moved in to stop her. Finally she lost some of her steam and just leaned against him, resting her forehead on his left shoulder.

"You ruined my life, Robin, again," Kitten cried. "…but that's not the worst part of all. The thing of all was you rejected me."

"Kitten, your father forced me to go to that prom…"

Kitten screamed at him. "That's not what I was talking about! You rejected me when you made me into a Sanguina, you could have had me…even if I was bound to you. But no, even then, you cast me aside like a disregarded doll. You could have had me…Robin…I would have done anything for you…you could have had anything you wanted from me…"

Her voice broke as she wept more on him and Robin stood there motionless. He was bombarded by her sadness and grief to do anything except cry himself. He let her emotions crash into him like a tidal wave smashing into a ship. He cried silently along with her and wrapped his arms around her held her. She looked up at him in confusion, but didn't protest and tensely hugged him back. He just held her as she wept, letting her emotions wash over him one after another, until she was done crying.

Sin went to stand next to Raven and looked down at her. "Even I'm feeling sorry for that crazy bitch."

Raven nodded. "Who'd have thought it?"

Beast Boy leaned over close to whisper to Cyborg. "Ya know? I think I like her better this way."

"Yeah, she doesn't have that crackling twinkle in her eyes anymore," Cyborg added.

Speedy was leaning against a console with his arms crossed. "I say it serves her right."

Robin shot him a glare.

"Hey, she killed her own father!" Speedy stated curtly. "I don't care if you may feel sorry for her now. Before she became this Sanguina whatever, she was a loose nut. Crazier than most nuts we've come across. If something hadn't been done she might have made a swarm of mutated bugs and have them kill everybody without warning."

Robin wanted to argue with him, but it was hard to be angry when you agreed. He looked down at Kitten and held her at arm's length of him. "He's right, Kitten. You were too obsessed with your revenge on me…You tried to kill Starfire, twice, and you did kill your father. I might feel bad about what I did to you, but I'm not going to pity your fate now."

Kitten looked ready to have a tantrum. Her teeth were bared in anger and her eyes were burning with that same old flame. "Why does everyone turn against me?" As soon as she said that, all the anger left her and she looked about ready to cry again.

"You need help, Kitten. Serious help," Robin stated. "Maybe this is for the best. I mean, you committed murder and you tried to do it again. You'd have been locked away for most of your young life…or worse. You've actually been fortunate."

"Fortunate? I'm a fucking slave! How is that fortunate?" Kitten snapped.

"Because if you weren't turned into a Sanguina, even if by accident, you'd have had a life behind bars," Hornet interjected. "Either way, your life wouldn't have been fun. I think your situation right now is better than the other."

Kitten shook her head angrily, clinching her fists and grinding her teeth, but she didn't say anything. She lowered her head and moved to stand by Hornet, not meeting anyone's eyes. Robin watched her. With everything she has done, he couldn't let himself pity her fate. It might have proven that he's become crueler, but he didn't care anymore. He knew his nature and he knew what he might have done to her if she did kill Starfire at last…

His brooding was interrupted when Desdemona waltzed into the common room. "Hey, guys! What's going…oh, shit."

Grimm turned his head in her direction and his eyes locked on her. "The Rogue!"

He was instantly upon her. Nobody saw when he reached for a blade; it was just there in his hands. Desdemona didn't have time to guard herself from the attack as the blade hummed through the air, aimed at her heart. She watched as the blade zoom right at her as everything else moved in slow motion. Right when she should have felt the blade pierce her heart, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the blade's path, slicing right past her.

Grimm rolled with the momentum and spun on his heels back in her direction, thinking that she somehow managed to move herself from his attack. As he ready to lunge again, he was met with Sin's glare as he held her arm and was standing in his way.

"What are you doing?" Grimm demanded. "That girl is the…"

Sin cut him off with a growl. "I know full well who she is, but I am in her debt and I will not allow any harm to befall her while she stays here."

"A debt?" Grimm fumbled, standing back up. "What could she have done to earn a debt from you?"

"She protected Raven from the Nosferatu as they were massacring a street yesterday," Sin replied.

"Doesn't matter what she's done," Grimm said coldly. "She has been hunted for the last century for her crimes against the council and must pay for it with her life."

"Maybe you're not hearing me very well, Grimm," Sin growled darkly, his pupils thinning to straight lines. "I owe her my debt and if you keep persisting in undermining me, I will see it as a direct challenge and I will kill you."

Grimm faltered, visibly shaken as his skin had just finished healing. "…Then what will become of her?"

"I'm right here, you know?" Desdemona growled, looking clearly irritated. "Don't take about me as if I'm some vermin."

"But you _are_ vermin," Grimm stated emptily.

Desdemona bared her fangs and the chains on her gauntlet began to rattle. She stood ready to attack and the chains started unwinding. It wasn't until Sin grabbed her arm and shook her.

"If you attack him now, he has all rights to defend himself and that would be all he needs to kill you," Sin warned.

"I can handle him," Desdemona growled.

Grimm smirked at her with contempt and amusement. "You're no older than about….three centuries." He played with his words as he spoke. "I'm well your senior in every respect."

Desdemona grunted a laugh. "You got that right grandpa."

Grimm narrowed his eyes and spun the dagger in his hand to point the blade downward. Robin at that point had enough. His temper was shortening by the second and by the time his last straw of used up…his right eye blasted Grimm into the wall.

The other members of Sin's squad, Kitten, the Titans, Sin, Lynx, and Desdemona darted their heads at Robin.

He glared back at them all. "I'm tired of these vampire pissing contests." He pointed a finger at the squad. "You've been brought here to help us, not bring more problems on us." He walked over to where Grimm was just dragging himself out of the ruined wall. He grabbed him by the collar of his suit and yanked him out of the rubble and tossed him back over at the squad. "I'm not some council member, some great Enforcer like you all are. I'm not any of what you all our. I am still new to all this Nosferatu politics and rules, but I, first and foremost, am a Titan above all else. And _my_ Team and _my_ city's safety comes first in everything…is that clear?"

Everyone stared at Robin in dead silence. Out of all of them, Sin looked the most amazed at Robin. Grimm fumbled back to his feet, anger visibly on his face.

"You little whelp!" Grimm snarled. "I'll have your head for…" His quieted down when he saw Robin's eye glowing again.

It shined with malice and filled him with a sense of dread that reminded him of…He slowly turned his gaze to Sin, who was now grinning fiendishly. The moment was gratefully broken when Jesse hollered a hoot.

"Dang! He's Sin all over!" Jesse proclaimed, smiling at the Titan Leader. "Ya are giving me the heebie-jeebies, kid!"

"Sorry, but I just got pissed for a moment there…" Robin replied with a blank tone, looking away from them all. "I didn't mean to…"

"You had every right to act as you did, Robin," Sin interjected. "We are acting stupidly with these old games. There's no time for it, we have some trash to clean out of our city."

"Yeah, I'm getting tired of all this nonsense, too," Hornet added, turning his head to Sin. "I've had enough of the politics back home, it's time for some action…they are getting restless."

Beast Boy looked at the squad and then back and forth about the room. "Uh, who are _they_?"

"…It best you not know until it is the right time," Hornet replied cryptically.

Beast Boy gulped.

"Alrightie! Let's get to the fun! Yee-haw!" Jesse hollered, slinging out her two revolvers and spinning them with graceful ease over her trigger fingers, firing off two rounds, and spinning them back into their holsters.

Beast Boy and Cyborg peeked out from behind Sin, where they ran to hide when Jesse shouted, leaving Sin laughing.

"You'll have to get used to that, my friends," Sin chuckled. "Jesse is very high spirited with her work."

"Yeah, so let's cut the chit-chat and shoot some lead in some undead varmints!" Jesse proclaimed, placing her hands on her revolvers.

"As you wish, but you all will have to begin your first patrol without me," Sin replied, walking over to Robin and Raven, touching their shoulders and leading them out of the common room. "I have some matters to discuss with my children."

A contempt grunt came out of Grimm. "…So, you're going to make us do all the dirty work for you now?"

Sin shot him a glare. "That's what Enforcers all our, the trash men, the hunters, the assassins. We do whatever job we're giving and we all obey orders, like you."

"Humph, I've never seen anyone order you, Sin. You do as you please and the Council always allows you to do whatever it is that you want," Grimm stated grisly.

"I don't have to explain my status to the likes of you, Grimm," Sin growled, his voice growing more threatening. "Now, get out there and fulfill your mission."

Grimm stiffened. He kept his angry, arrogant expression on the grinning Nosferatu as he bowed his head and touched his forehead with the flat of his sickle blade. Jesse performed the same salute with her revolver, as did Hornet with just the back of his hand and Freya with the bear claws on her armbands. Sin nodded his head in return and they filed out of the common room and headed out to the city. Kitten remained behind, standing very nervously among them.

Sin planted his gaze on her. "You will be staying with them at Crimson Desires. When they return, I will take you to your quarters."

Kitten bowed hesitantly. "Thank you, Master Sin…"

"Don't call me that. Hornet is your master," Sin corrected.

"Forgive me…Sin," Kitten said hastily and more nervous.

Robin walked away from Sin and Raven and touched Kitten's shoulder. "Relax, you'll be okay now."

Kitten stared into his mismatched eyes with pain. "I'll never be okay again…" She backed away from him and left the common room with her head hung low.

Speedy flapped down on the couch and crossed his arms behind his head and put his feet on the table. "That girl was never okay to begin with."

Raven sensed Sin's body tense up and almost told him to let go as his hand tightened its hold on her. She placed her hand over his and looked up at him. On contact, Sin loosened his grip, but he didn't look at her. His eyes were locked on the back of Speedy's head and the look in his eyes weren't friendly in any sense.

"Come…I have much to explain," Sin said in a crisp, sharp tone to Robin.

Robin turned to him, feeling his Sire's animosity toward the archer and complied quickly before things went for the worse again. He walked over to Sin and Raven, touching her shoulder. Raven nodded and touched Sin's arm again and tugged on his sleeve. The grinning Nosferatu averted his eyes from the archer and grunted at them, then stalked out of the common room, with the two dark Titans behind him.

When they were gone, Speedy snarled to himself. "…Why does everyone do what he says?"

Cyborg glared at the back of his head. "Yo, what are you talkin' about?"

Speedy turned his head to meet his face. "I'm _talkin'_ about how everybody just seems to do whatever Sin tells us to do!"

"Man, don't get on that beat again. We've all talked about this," Beast Boy groaned.

"No," Speedy snapped. "I could almost understand him up till now, but now he's brought his bunch in the Tower! Now, it's only time before we're all drained, or turned into God-forsaken monsters and Sin munching on Raven's bab-!"

Lynx pounced on Speedy, knocking him off the couch and pinning him under one hand, with a raised claw posed over his throat. "How. Dare. You. Say. That!"

"Whoa! Get off me, furball!" Speedy growled.

Lynx stared him down with pure leopard eyes. "Talking like that isn't going to help."

Speedy scoffed at him and looked over at Starfire. "Star, get your crazy _pet_ off me before I neuter him and you can't play with him anymore."

Starfire stared at Speedy disbelievingly, catching her breath in her throat in a sharp gasp.

"Ah, dang…Now he done it," Cyborg said, cracking his knuckles.

"Dude! That was low, even for you!" Beast Boy shouted, bunching up his fists.

Desdemona, being new around them, knew instantly that she wanted to rip his balls off and feed them down his mouth, past his ass and then feed them to him again. "You fucking dick!"

Lynx growled deeply in his throat, looking ready to tear into him. He snarled at him and then suddenly the snarl turned into a grin.

"You hate monsters so much, huh?" Lynx surmised. His raised claw grew furrier and widened out as the muscles budged out down his arm. "Maybe if you turned furry every full moon, it might change your tune…"

Speedy froze under him. "….No, you wouldn't?!"

"I feel sorry for everyone that's got to deal with what I am, but you, I think it would be perfect justice," Lynx proclaimed.

Speedy began desperately trying to free himself from under his grasp. He turned to his teammates. "You're not going to just stand there and do nothing, are you!? Help me!"

Nobody made a move to help him, but Starfire did. She moved next to Speedy and with furious eyes leaned down to his face and slammed a hand right next to his head. Her fingers curled somewhat, as if she were clawing the floor.

"I loved you at one time, if short, I did for a time," Starfire said in a low voice, unfamiliar for the alien girl. "And after what we tried to have, I thought you would respect my choices…but now…" Speedy could have sworn he saw her pupils change into slits for a moment. "…Now you treat everything with hatred. You then imply hurtful remarks to me, to Robin, and to Sin; when none of us have done anything to you to deserve your anger." She stood up and turned her back to him as she walked away. "…I will not stand for it anymore, and I will not…" her voiced cracked with sorrow. "…Will not stop Lynx if he wants to make you into what you've been acting like all this time."

Of all the things to say, those last words of hers struck Speedy's heart harder than any thing physically possible. Seeing her walk away like that tore him apart. It was bad enough that she left him for a monster, but to know that she compared him to one was too much for him to bear. He stopped struggling and lay limped under Lynx. He couldn't tear his eyes of her retreating back, as her words kept repeating themselves in his head.

Lynx never brought down his claw. His shifted arm turned back to normal and he got off the archer and went to stand next to Starfire. She didn't turn but she touched his arm as he took her into his arms possessively, clearly stated to anyone with the force in his eyes that she was his.

"If you're going to put your personal crap before what's really important here, then how can you call yourself a Titan, let alone a hero?" Lynx solicited. "How come you're still here among us _monsters_ that you so clearly despise?"

Speedy got back to his feet and focused his attention on dusting himself. "You're right. I've got no business being here, anymore. You all got enough help, you don't need me." He didn't look at any of them as he spoke and headed for the exit. "I'm going back to where I belong, with the Titans East…for good."

As he walked to the exit, a part of him was begging them to stop him. He wanted them to see that he was right, they couldn't trust the monsters. They couldn't trust Sin! He was the root of the danger. Since he showed up, all has gone to hell and will continue until he's gone. But none of them stopped him. They kept silent. He could actually feel their gaze bore into his back. He wondered why they couldn't see it themselves.

' _Fine…'_ He thought. _'They can all learn the hard way. When they see Sin for what he really is, it might be too late, but I fucking warned them all! I'm done! Let them crash and burn!'_

As he exited the common room, Starfire broke into tears and held her face in her hands. Lynx, feeling concerned, tried to comfort her but it only made her cry more.

"I don't deserve to have anyone…not when in the end I break their hearts and cause pain," Starfire mourned.

"Hey, hey…" Lynx spoke softly. "That's no way to think. Speedy was a dick before you got involved with him. How he acted now just proved it. Why blame yourself?"

Starfire leaned against him. "…I don't know why. But I feel I'm responsible. I felt Robin because I was afraid of what he was…Then I leave Speedy because his rage scared me…I should have been stronger for them, but I wasn't. I…I," Her self pity stopped when Lynx slapped her.

"Stop it," Lynx said flatly.

Her shocked expression bore up at him in confusion.

"You didn't know what to do at first with Robin. You weren't sure yourself of what happened, so of course you were scared away," Lynx stated. "And with Speedy…" Lynx grunted his name. "That guy was letting his own personal feelings get in the way of everything, that's what made you leave him. He wasn't going to listen and I can easily say he isn't going to listen to anyone with that attitude of his. You did what you thought was best, leave it at that. Don't let this eat at you and ruin any hope of happiness for yourself."

Starfire almost forgot the stinging pain in her cheek. She would put her mind off it, but Lynx slapped her hard! She kept rubbing it until the sting went away. Although, he struck her, she wasn't mad at him. It was exactly what she needed to bring herself out of her demoralizing state of mind.

"You are right, Lynx," Starfire said, touching his hand.

Lynx grinned Cheshire-like. "You're welcome! You know I can't stand seeing you look so sad."

Starfire smiled and her eyes leered at him as her smiled turned into a feral one. Lynx saw that look and his grinned dropped as worry appeared on his face. Starfire pounced on him and the two rolled around on the floor, ending with Starfire on top of Lynx. He stared up at her as if waiting for her to strike. What happened next was seeing her smile and beam like her old self, again. There wasn't an inch of doubt, sadness, pain; none of it. Starfire looked the happiest she's ever been.

"Thank you, Lynx. Thank you for being you," Starfire said.

Lynx smiled at her cheesy-like. "If it gets you to react like this, I have no problem with you being on top!"

Starfire turned redder than her hair.

The others in the room who were watching them laughed. It was a nice change from the mood they all were in just a while ago. Lynx seemed to make everyone feel like laughing. It was one of the things they all took note of his personality, and one they'd quickly appreciated. The laughter helped them feel that everything wasn't as bad as it was; the best kind of medicine for what ailed their hearts…

Robin was leaning his back against the wall of his room, watching Sin pace back and forth from his window to the door. Raven was floating next to him also watching their mentor-slash-father pacing. He'd begun to pace as they told him all that happened to them last night, the less embarrassing facts.

"…I guess I shouldn't have been surprised," Sin said at last, after pacing for fifteen minutes. "Being exposed to that realm does leave its mark..."

"What realm was that exactly?" Raven asked. "I've never come across a world like that in any of my books, or that dragon living in it. Who was he?"

Sin stopped pacing and slumped down on the chair by Robin's desk. "The realm you were in is called the Shadow Continuum, and you wouldn't find it in any book ever written. It's unknown to all except a few…and now I must tell you that you are to never reveal this to anyone. No matter the situation, you cannot convey what I am about to explain to you."

Both promised.

"…It's," Sin looked thoughtful as he picked what words to use. "…It's a plane that exists between the planes of life and death, some would call it limbo. But it is not. This plane is the barrier that connects us with the beyond and even allows for dimensional travel, if one knows how to in that realm."

"How is it that you discovered it?" Robin asked.

"Heh, it was by accident, really," Sin replied with a grin. "I was practicing my art and during one deep session, I opened a portal. I first thought not to go through, as any sane person would think, but the realm beyond it called to me and I couldn't deny its voice. I entered the portal and since then, I've never been the same."

"What about the dragon? Does be have a name?" Raven asked again.

"Him? He has many names, a few that impossible to pronounce with human tongues. Although, I always called him Nelo, and he never minded," Sin replied, leaning back in the chair and crossing his legs and draped one arm over the backrest.

"Nelo, that's means dark in Latin, doesn't it?" Robin surmised.

"It does. He's the physical incarnation of that realm, the guardian of the barrier. As you found out, he's rather…protective of his realm," Sin replied while widening his grin. "Don't hold that against him. It's his job to keep anyone from using the powers of that realm to disrupt the peaceful balance of the living and the dead."

"Was that the power you used against Trigon?" Raven asked, floating up to him.

"Yes…I don't often do that, as my promise to Nelo to never abuse the power of that realm. But as you witnessed, I had little choice if I wanted to defeat him," Sin answered. "…It's seductive, this power, and since you both were exposed to it, I will have to add you, Raven, to Robin's training."

"Sin? You told me once that our training was a secret to only a Sire and fledgling. I'm not saying this because I don't want Raven to join us, I'm thrilled, really, but doesn't that go against the rules somewhere?" Robin remarked.

Sin lowered his gaze away from him and stared at his boots. "You are quite right, Robin…only a Sire and his fledgling may participate in our ways..." He shifted his eyes to Raven and gazed at her mysteriously. "…But, Raven was also exposed to the same power you were, and becoming half demonic she may react like a vampire in certain fields. I can't take that chance. Raven will now join us in our training. It will be easier if she did and it would help protect herself better."

"But the others? I don't think they'll understand," Robin said, frowning slightly.

"You let me worry about them," Sin said. "Our business is our own…and if they do have a problem with it. Well…" He smiled very maliciously. "I'll have to show them not to stick their noses where it doesn't belong."

Robin sighed and smiled at his Sire. "You're scary and admiring at the same time; I don't know which would be better."

Sin laughed. "Flattery will work wonders with me, Robin. AHAHAHAHAHA!"

Raven giggled lightly, shaking her head. "Great, Robin, boost his ego more. You know it'll make him more impossible later on."

Robin smirked and winked at her. Sin chuckled some more and unfolded his legs off the table and was about to get up when he turned his head to the window.

Robin followed his gaze and walked to the window and looked out. "…Hey, Speedy's leaving."

"Good riddance if you ask me," Sin replied curtly. "He was proving more of a thorn in everyone's side than anything else."

"Yeah, but we can't let him go out into the city alone…" Robin protested. With everything that has happened, he still thought of Speedy as one of his friends. "…We can't…"

Sin raised a hand to silence him. "…I believe he's made a choice…and if that's what he wants, then be respectful of his decision. He hated being here, that was clear enough. What pushed him to finally go was his own hatred for us, or me if anyone here. Maybe Lynx, but I see that as more of jealous rage than what he has for me…"

"He just couldn't stop thinking you were bad for us," Raven added.

"Don't hold that against him…I am bad for you," Sin replied. "I've turned Robin into a Nosferatu. I've allowed your existence, Raven, to be known to us. I've brought much that Speedy uses to rightfully justify his anger."

"But we know you didn't mean to. You did want to make me a Nosferatu, Sin, but you wanted to wait until you thought I was ready to make that choice on my own. You were forced to change me to save me, because you cared for me, even when at first I didn't know who you were," Robin stated.

"And you tried to keep my bloodline a secret, it was Stefan that probably the leak," Raven said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"…Yes, Stefan would be the only one…" Sin said thoughtfully, gazing at nothing.

"Sin?" Robin said.

Sin looked at him. "It's nothing that I hadn't already considered." He sat up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now then, as of now we're to not let my squad know of your venture. They cannot learn of its existence. If they learned you gained your powers from that and not from any inherited ways. They will most surely report this to the Council and eventually, whoever is spying for Stefan will tell him."

"Somehow, I don't think Grimm is going to be very helpful there," Robin remarked, frowning as he looked back at his mentor and lover.

"You can be sure of that, Robin," Sin said. "If anything, Grimm will do as he is told by the Council, and I'm sure they gave him orders to keep an eye on us and my plans."

"Sounds like we're getting more trouble than help with your friends, Sin," Raven said dryly.

"Can't be helped, I haven't been with them for over two centuries, they're allegiances could have greatly changed," Sin replied. "Some of the Councilors are on my side and some are not…"

"Meaning?" Robin said, giving Sin a worried looked.

"The Council that isn't on my side will have given some of them if not all of them other orders," Sin finished, frowning as he did. "As I noticed from Grimm's reaction earlier, I imagine that the Council has forbidden them and anyone from using Raven's blood, including me…"

"I'm hearing something else in that," Raven admitted.

Sin sighed, actually showing the tiredness he felt on his face. "I fear that if they were giving those orders, they will use any means to keep anyone from getting you, even by means of….eliminating you."

"What!?" Robin cried. "They can't kill her just to keep anybody from drinking her blood!"

"Ah, but my son, that's politics in the vampire court. We cannot let a Nosferatu, especially a dangerous one like Stefan get his hands on Raven. They know he will enact the rest of the legend and use Raven's child to reach godhood. They won't risk it…"

Robin snapped at him. "It doesn't make it right! They can't decide if Raven lives or dies! They just can't!"

Sin nodded, letting his frown deepen. "This is why I try to never get involved in our politics. It usually means the death of someone, if nothing more than a political gain…"

Robin touched Raven's shoulder. "They won't touch her, any of them! If they try I'll…I'll kill them all."

Sin barked a laugh. "You are strong for a young Nosferatu, Robin. But if the Council wishes to kill someone, they can easily….but then again you're not just some young Nosferatu; you are my fledgling, my blood…to make war on you is to make war on me, and if the Council truly wants to anger me." His eyes flashed crimson, like light reflecting off the eyes of a cat's. "We'll make them regret it."

Raven finally spoke up again, touching Robin's hand but looking at Sin. "…Sin, this has been on my mind for a while, it has nothing to do with what we were talking about; well, maybe it does, but it has to do with the time you and I ran into those vampire hunters."

Sin grinned as he remembered that fight. "Yes, what about it?"

"You had my blood all over your hand. You knew about what my blood could do…why didn't you want to taste it?" Raven asked curiously.

The question took Sin off guard. He never expected such a question to be directed at him. His expression froze between a grin and a gasp, because he wasn't sure what to make of what she said. He didn't say anything for a minute, thinking back to that moment and replaying it in his mind. It was still fresh in his mind as if were just yesterday when he and Raven ran into the hunters, when Robin lost control and lost Starfire only to be welcomed in Raven's arms. The time was very memorable, truly…But the question she presented him was something he had to wish she never asked.

"…Sin?" Raven said cautiously.

He must have been too quiet for her likely for her to speak so nervously.

"Why didn't I taste your blood?" Sin repeated her question. "Because I didn't want to…The myth did run past me, but if it were true as you and Robin proved, I didn't want to take advantage of you."

"There's something else, Sin," Raven said, floating closer to him. "If that was all, you wouldn't have taken so long to answer me."

Sin smiled up at her. "The rest is complicated. You'll just have to settle with that answer for now."

Robin groaned in irritation and crossed his arms over his chest again. Raven didn't back off from Sin. She didn't look convinced.

"Bite me," Raven said.

Sin dropped his smiled and stared at Raven, stunned. Robin also looked stunned.

"Raven?" Robin said questionably.

"I want you to bite me, Sin," Raven repeated with more force.

"Raven, why are you asking me this?" Sin asked.

"Makes sense, doesn't it?" Raven said, looking at both him and Robin. "If Sin drank my blood, he'd be able to resist the sun and have a distinct advantage against Stefan. It only makes sense."

Sin pressed his back against the chair. "Raven…?"

Raven touched his arm. "Just take some of my blood, Sin."

Sin flinched under her touched, although it was barely noticeable. Robin noticed it and wondered what was the matter with Sin. He wasn't thrilled with the idea, either. Partly because he felt jealous if anyone but him got to taste her blood. But it did make sense to him; if Sin could walk about in the sun like him, then what could stop him? There was a big reason why Sin was acting nervous and he wondered why his Sire never asked Raven if he could taste her blood for himself. Raven let her feet touch the floor and almost sat in Sin's lap, touching his face with both her hands.

"Sin, I'm offering you my blood," Raven whispered. "What's the matter with that?"

Sin shook his head faintly, averting his gaze to the side.

"What not?" Raven asked simply, she ran a hand over the side of her neck, brushing the hair aside to expose her pale neck to him.

She was tempting him. Robin couldn't understand why she was. This wasn't like her…or maybe that was his possessive side talking. Raven proved she was much more exotic than he would have thought last night, but asking Sin to bite her made no sense to him other than the advantage it would give to Sin; and Robin asked himself why Sin was refusing so much.

"Sin, what's wrong?" Robin demanded.

Sin was paralyzed under Raven's touched. His crimson eyes looked gazed over as if lost in his mind. Raven tried coercing him by sitting completely on his lap with each leg on either side of him, causing Robin to frown more, and wrap her arms around his neck. It was a very unorthodox position for her to be in with someone she regarded like a father, but it was the only comfortable one she could get in with him sitting in a chair, at least for what she wanted him to do.

"What's the problem?" Raven asked him softly.

Sin wouldn't look at her.

"Sin, I'm asking you…why don't you want to drink my blood?" Raven pressed.

Sin slowly leveled and locked his crimson eyes on her soft lavender ones. "Because I'm not worthy to ever see the sun again…and because, I can't harm you…in any way. Even if I benefit from you, it would be wrong of me to do that with you."

"What are you talking about? I'm offering it to you, there's a difference," Raven retorted. "And of course you're worthy to see daylight…Sin, you've brought bright hope to us ever since you came into our lives."

Sin grunted a laugh. "That's a colorful way of saying how I've fucked up all your lives for my personal wants."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "Wants?"

Sin shook his head again and touched Raven's cheek. "I've been very alone, for a long time since I left Stefan…You want to know the truth about him and I? I'm sure you do."

"What is the truth?" Raven said with a calm tone.

Sin grinned but the humor never reached up into his eyes. "He and I were lovers."

Robin gawked at Sin as Raven just stared at him as her eyes widened.

Sin chuckled bitterly. "You're surprised? I can't blame you as this modern world frowns so heavy upon such a thing as two men loving each other. It's a sin to many…and I have rightfully earned my name." He tried laughing but it came out more as grunting. "He and I were a pair and an unstoppable one at that. Death and Darkness they used to call us…No one could match when we fought together…and I thought for a time no one could have understood the love we had. Does it make you both unnerved? To know that I've made love to a man and gladly accepted his affection, the man that is now after your child, Raven? Doesn't it sicken you both that you've looked up to me, only to know that I once was a lover to your enemy?"

Neither of them spoke. What could they say to that? How could either of them reply to the knowledge that their father and Sire liked men and that he was fighting one that he was with at a time? Nothing could have been said, so the two showed him.

Raven leaned forward and hugged him as Robin walked around the chair and hugged the two from behind there. Sin was tense between the two, but he began to relax and hugged Raven around her waist.

"You two are something else," Sin whispered to them.

"No, we're family," Raven replied just as quietly. "And true family understands and accepts whatever their loved ones are; that's what it means to be family."

Robin added. "Sin, you helped us find love, real love. You guided us when we were confused and stood with us through the toughest of our times and taken so much abuse for our sake. You didn't have to put up with our problems, you could have just ignored them, but instead you went out and tried fixing them. You went to so much trouble to make us see the truth and that we belonged with you in the darkness. You are our mentor, our father, and most of all, our friend."

Raven felt something wet hit her right arm and saw that Sin was leaning his face on it and crimson tears were slowly pouring down from his closed eyes. He didn't whimper or look sad, he was just crying silently in untold joy by their understanding and compassion for him.

"We're the darkness. The ones accepted into the shadows when the Light has no place for us," Raven said passionately. "And it's in darkness that we will always be together and always conquer whatever comes our way. You, Sin, you were that darkness that showed us there was more than one way to live, because you saw in us what no one else ever could see was really there in our hearts."

Sin hugged her a little closer. "You two are my soul. Without you, I'd never had remembered what being truly loved or cared was again. I can be the man I thought I lost to the monster inside me…the thing I've fought so long to never to become but lost as I learned it was inevitable. But you two, together you both make me feel like I'm…alive again."

Raven cupped his face and tilted her head back to the side. "Then, please, take my gift…I want to repay you for showing me that I'm not evil. That I'm a person..." To help persuade him, she took out a knife in one of her cloak's many hidden pockets and made a swallow cut over the surface of her neck. She hissed slightly as she did, but never stopped until she made a two inch line.

Sin, even being an older vampire, couldn't deny his instant desire to taste the rich blood that trickled down her neck, soaking into her leotard and vanishing into its black material. His eyes locked on the wound and his mouth started to open. Raven leaned her head back further and used the hand with the knife to keep her hair away. Sin hesitated, then little by little, he started moving his mouth to the wound. A soft hollowed sigh came out of him as his tongue reached out instinctively to taste the blood. Robin never said a word as Sin tightened his hold on her more, pressing her small frame against his and bowing his head down to hover over her offered neck. He closed his mouth and eyes to heighten his sense of smell as he inhaled her scent and the blood just an inch from his lips.

The temptation was so intense for Sin. The blood for which his enemies were clawing over each other was just a tongue lick away and he only had to part his lips. Her blood called to him and his inner beast responded to that call in a way that it made Sin cup his hand on the other side of her neck and caress it as his over danced over her bare hip. His cold touch made Raven gasp slightly and bite her lower lip. The sound made him open his eyes and look at Raven, in a way he didn't want to. He claimed her as his daughter, his child to raise and protect, but at that moment, he didn't see her that way. He saw her as a woman, blossoming into her full ripeness and that thought alone stirred parts of him that made him hate himself.

Quickly, he pulled away from Raven and closed his eyes. "I cannot…"

Raven opened eyes she didn't realize she had closed. "What? But Sin, you need…"

Sin quieted her with a shake of his head. "I'm old enough to apply simple sun block, that's enough for me, and I already can tap into the Shadow Continuum. There's no point in me drinking your blood, Raven…"

Raven tried to protest but Sin gently pushed her off his lap and unhooked Robin's arms off him. He sat up and walked away from the two.

"I'm needed with my comrades. You two return to your friends…" Sin said, never turning to look at them as he opened a portal for himself and disappeared through it.

Robin sighed and took a sit in the chair that Sin had just been occupying. "Raven, what was that all about? Why did you want Sin to drink your blood so badly?"

Raven held herself and stared at the spot where the portal existed before it vanished when Sin stepped through it. "I wanted…" She didn't know what she really wanted. She just wished to give Sin something that only she could give. But the way that Sin had held her just now made her insides tighten and thoughts that should never have played in her mind, made her think of something else; something a proclaimed daughter shouldn't consider towards the man she called father. "…It's nothing, Robin. I don't know what urged me to ask that out of him."

Robin opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better against it. He didn't want to let Raven think he was entertaining the wrong impression about her with his Sire. That was an area he wanted to avoid and pretend he did not consider it in the first place. He just wished that the worry feeling in the pit of his stomach would go away.

"Let's go back with the others, Raven," Robin offered. "They're probably wondering about us."

"Maybe," Raven replied, she healed the cut on her neck. "We better ask them what happened with Speedy."

"Yeah," Robin agreed. Then the two left his room and rejoined the others. All the while, Robin kept playing the look on Raven's face when Sin was about to bite her…

Halfway out in the city, Speedy was running on top of the rooftop. He avoided the streets and alleys below to keep from being ambushed from any Nosferatu lurking around, waiting for a victim. And it would prevent him from getting cornered if they ganged up on him. At least out in the open he thought he had a better chance of fighting off any bloodsucker that tried to mess with him. Fortunately, he hadn't run into a single undead leech since he left the Tower; much to his disappointment. He wanted to take out his frustrations on something, anything. Whether it was a criminal or some undead freak he could take down. He just needed something to vent his boiling anger before it exploded and ripped him apart.

"Damn vampires…they've either killed or scared all the criminals away," Speedy cursed as he leapt from one roof to another. "Can't even beat up a damn car thief…fucking monsters."

He was brought out of his brooding when he leapt over a rooftop and just happened to spot two guys in the alley between the buildings he was jumping over. If it weren't for the money in one of the guys hands and the other holding something shining off the lamp hanging over them. Speedy planted his foot on the rail of the next building to stop his momentum and then he flipped back and bounced off the walls and landed right next to the two men.

"So, what have we here?" Speedy said, grabbing the shining object with ease. He held it up for better inspection as the two guys yelped and backed away from him.

"H-Hey! You're a Titan!" The one with the money quivered.

"Give the man a star, or better yet, a knuckle sandwich!" Speedy punched the guy with the money. He planted his foot on his chest when he thumped against the ground and shoved the object in his face. "What the hell do you think your doing? Buying heroin!" Speedy tossed the syringe needle in his hand against the ground next to his head, shattering it. "You're digging your own grave with this stuff!"

"F-Fuck off, man! You can't understand! You've never had a fucked up life…" the guy replied shakily. His left eye kept twitching rapidly and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

 _'Shit, this guy must be going through withdrawal...'_ Speedy thought in disgust. He removed his foot from his chest. "No wonder you haven't become some vampire's snack. Your blood probably would have made them sick."

The heroin addict jerked away from Speedy and ran for it down the alley. Speedy let him go, thinking maybe he'd be safe enough from any vampire out tonight. They had their own problems if the team of Sin's was actually doing their job…or helping the monsters. It didn't matter to him anymore; Jump City was going to hell and he was sick of watching it when he was powerless to stop it. At least when he got back to Steel City, things would be normal again….no undead monsters to deal with, no more friends becoming corrupted before his eyes….

"I've had enough of this town…" Speedy said to himself. He quickly pulled out an arrow and shot it down the opposite side of the alley where the dealer was just about to run out of the alley, knocking him in the back of the head with the blunt-headed arrow he fired.

He dealer fell quickly with a cry of surprise as his face landed on the pavement. Speedy stalked over to him and dragged him back into the alley and punched him in the guts. "Fucking filth like you…just feeding off the weak in this city's destruction!" He punched him again, this time in the face.

"Ah! What's your deal!" the dealer cringed after he was slammed against the wall by Speedy's punch. "A guy's gotta make a living, huh?" His reply was met with another punch from Speedy in the gut. He fell to his knees, bending over while holding his stomach from the pain. "Fuck man!"

"Shut up!" Speedy growled. "People like you are just as bad as the bloodsucking freaks running amok now! You just feed on the helpless and leave them to rot!"

"Not everyone is…" He dealer coughed up some blood. "…As honest when it comes to making money!"

"No, it's just you're too lazy and greedy to make money honestly," Speedy said coldly, kicking him in the face.

The dealer cried out again and clutched his face. "Kid! You've got some issues to work out…just arrest me already, well ya!"

Speedy cracked his knuckles. "I might have a while ago…but I've had too much pent up anger, and this is the first time I've been able to work it out."

The dealer laughed. "Oh? So a hero is mad at the world and he's going to take it out on guys like me, huh? That's real sad right there. Compared to you, I'm actually the honest one here."

Somehow what the dealer said made the image of Sin's mocking face appear in his mind, and it made him rush at the guy again with his fist.

"Sorry, but I'm not gonna be nobodies punching bag!" The dealer reached into his jacket and moved just as Speedy's fist was about to connect to his face. He pulled out a syringe needle filled with his highest brand of heroin and jabbed Speedy in the chest as he ducked to avoid another fist. He pushed the needle as far as it could go and pumped the entire thing into the archer.

Speedy cried out in agony as the drug overloaded his body and began making his mind a blank. He collapsed to the ground, staring out at nothing in a daze as the drug worked into his system.

"Sorry, kid, but maybe this'll help that anger of yours, hah hah!" The dealer grunted with laughter. "Next time, go see a shrink with your problems!" The dealer then took that moment to leave, running as fast as his bruised body could manage.

Speedy rolled on the ground, trying to fight the affect of the drug that had quickly run throughout his body. He tried to get up but only managed to feebly move his arms and legs pathetically. His eyes rolled in his head and his mouth hung open as his mind became devoid of thought, emotion….only thing that matter anymore in his mind was the sweet, intoxicating blankness the heroin concocted in him.

"Wow…so….this is oblivion," Speedy mused to himself, beginning to smile like a fool.

A/N: Hmm, looks like things are going downhill more for the Titans. If anyone who has read the DC comic's original version of Teen Titans, you'd all know that there was a time when Speedy became a drug addict for a brief time after Roy Harper (Speedy) and Oliver Queen (aka. The Green Arrow) began to drift apart. Speedy began experimenting with drugs with the Trust money that Oliver had set up for him as a way to escape his grief. When suspicion began rising, he acted that he was 'pretending' to be working on the inside to break up a drug ring, it wasn't till later than Oliver realized that Roy really was a junkie. Thankfully, with the help of Oliver and Black Canary, Roy was able to get off drugs. Hmm, learn something everyday, huh?


	26. Chapter 26

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. They are the property of DC Comics and Cartoon Network. The following characters: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, Ruby, Grimm, Freya, Hornet, and Jesse belong rightfully to me, as does the plot to this story.

A/N: All right, my fellow vampire and Teen Titans fans. It's time to take this story to new level and I mean a new level of darkness and seduction. Yes, more seduction and lust is in store and if you haven't guessed with that big hint this chapter will contain a lemon scene, one with everyone's favorite vampire. And just so everyone is clear, the pairing for this lemon isn't permanent as I'm sure some will think when they finish reading this chapter or that part. For those of you that aren't in favor of the lemon, please, scroll down past it and continue on. For those of you that aren't of rightful age to read such material…just don't get caught reading it. XD!

Thanks goes out to everyone that has giving me a review and I wish to recognize them all for encouraging me to continue writing, even with the long delays that follow after each post.

A little reminder…The more reviews I get, the faster I will post my work; otherwise I won't think to put time in posting the next installments of my work any time soon. They really encourage me to keep going, so please, I'd like to know your thoughts on this chapter for anyone that reads it. Thank you all again for your patience with my posting…and listening to me talk. XD! Let's cut to the chase and get to good stuff, shall we?

 **Midnight Madness**

Morning was slowly arriving after the harsh night for everyone in Jump City. The morning dawn was approaching too slowly for those that have been hiding in fright of the creatures that have been plaguing them every past night now. They longed to feel safe again and feel hope return to them as the sun came out of its own hiding place to scare off the night and the beings that roamed in it. People wanted to walk out again in the streets and try and resume their normal lives.

But up in a grand suite, in the more a respectable hotel by the name of Gardens Dwell Hotel, Sin leaned idly on a large window that overlooked the town in its rising glory, with a cigarette dangling loosely between his left index and middle finger. He gazed down from the window and thought of how he got here. The reason why he was in a place like this in the first place was simple. Ruby had given him a call and left a message to one of his people at the club, telling him to meet her in room 54B in Gardens Dwell Hotel. He came thinking she had news for him about the Council's decision on the wild vampires flocking to America in hopes of claiming Raven, or what they plan to do against Stefan and his agenda.

What a surprise it was for him to find out that she just wanted to spend time with him. He almost forgot that people still invited close friends to just be near and talk of old times. Just proof that he had been stressing too much. He chuckled humorlessly to himself and took a puff from his cigarette. One of the great things about being undead was that you couldn't die of lung cancer by smoking. He had pulled one out and went over to look out the window to busy himself. Ruby was at the moment in the shower washing up before she retired for the day.

He could hear her singing softly in the shower from where he stood. Her voice seemed to soothe his mind and put him in a tranquil state. Sadly, even in this state he was still quite well aware that everything was in havoc. The Mayor was having problems keeping news from leaking out of the city about the undead invasion, and the numbers off losses each passing night were doubling. The police were getting pushed to their limits with keeping people under control and cleaning up the carnage that the night left for them when dawn came. As if to mock the town, the sun was rising up and slowly bathing it in a deep veil of red, red like the blood that flowed down the streets and rivers with the countless bodies left after a massacre, waiting for the sun's light to tell that it wasn't some awful dream, that it was a real nightmare they had lived through.

The water stopped in the shower room, drawing Sin out of his grim brooding and looking up to see Ruby coming out of the bathroom in a silk red bathrobe and drying her long, freed hair. She greeted him with a playful smile and sauntered up to him after she finished with her hair and tossed the wet towel with no care of thought on the floor. Sin looked away and continued his gaze at the reddening city.

"Hey…why the dark and gloomy face, Sin?" Ruby asked, circling her arms around his waist, grateful that he had chosen to come wearing a white silken shirt and black dress pants with only one normal belt this time (He left his unique belts back at his lair under Crimson Desires.) He had his plated and belted boots, but that was all right with her. She liked seeming them on him.

She spooned in behind him and moved her hands up to touch his unbuttoned front and roam her fingers over his toned abs and rub her face in his hair, inhaling his masculine scent and remembering all the other times she had that scent fill her nostrils…That wonderful scent of his, though, was being ruined by the smell of his cigarette.

' _He's smoking?'_ she thought and looked up at him. "Things are really troubling you, aren't they? I've never seen you light a cig unless you were really bothered with something."

"I'm bothered with everything right now, Ruby," Sin admitted, taking a slow draw from his cigarette and exhaling the smoke out of his nose lazily.

She wanted that cigarette to disappear fast. It was ruining the moment for her. She had called him up to help him relax and get his mind off things. Also, she missed him terribly. She longed to feel his body pressed against hers like when he sailed the high seas with her. The time they used to spend in her cabin during the harmful daylight hours rolling on her satin sheets and exploring the wonders of their bodies and what they had to offer. She missed those good old days too much and wasn't going to let some piece of smelly paper and tobacco and added chemicals that made it addicting to humans spoil it for her.

Ruby grabbed the offending item and put it out on the glass, leaving a grey, ashy smudge on the window.

"Then let's change your mind from being bothered to something else?" Ruby said with a husky hint to it.

Sin looked over his shoulder at her. That caught his attention. "Something else?" The grin she loved played over his face as want shined in his wicked eyes.

"Yes, something else…" Ruby repeated and turned him around and pulled him away from the window.

She moved around him the heavy curtains she requested for the room and waited a moment to let herself gaze at the awakening city, smirking slightly as she defied the sun's threat to her being and waited till the sun reached up to shine in her suite. She giggled and quickly closed the curtains, beating the sun again from burning her away and smiling triumphantly with the knowledge she'll get to see another night. She slowly turned around to face Sin; the darkness in the room wasn't a problem for either of them since both of them were creatures of darkness and blessed with keen night-vision. She tilted her head to the side and smiled up at him.

"Remember how we'd use to go into my cabin when the sun ruled the sea and we'd defy it with our happiness together?" Ruby questioned.

Sin let his eyes wonder over her and end with them staring into her waiting orbs of blood. "How could I forget? Those were fun times we used to have…back when things we so simple."

"Things were never simple, Sin. You taught me that, remember?" Ruby said, playing with the rim of her bathrobe and letting it flash some of her cleavage to him.

His eyes locked on to it and stayed there. "Yes…." He closed his eyes to break the hold that she had on him. "I have let so many things get to me these past nights. I never wanted it to happen this way…"

"What to never happen?" Ruby asked.

Sin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "My family, Ruby…I never wanted them to face these horrors until they were ready. I had so much planned for them…things I would have liked to have done with them when I turned Robin, but now…It's all falling apart in my hands."

Ruby went to him and rested her hands on his chest. "Sin. Things do not always work out the way we have envisioned them. You have to deal with things as they happen, another thing you taught me…"

He placed his hands over hers and squeezed them gently. "It seems I've forgotten the things I have preached."

She smiled up at him and closed the space between them, moving her hands up to his shoulders. He let her hands go and placed them comfortable on her luscious waist line.

"That's why it's imperative to have those closest to you even closer…" Ruby said wisely, pressing herself against his solid body and leaving her insides to quake with joy with being near him again.

Sin closed his eyes and savored her presence. Taking in her scent and thinking of the ocean and sandalwood. "You always make me think of the sea whenever I smell you, Ruby."

"And you, you make me think of other things that smell just as nice…things I've missed so much with you," Ruby shuddered with desire.

Sin reopened his eyes and looked down upon her beautiful face and stroked a lock of her crimson hair that hanged over the side of it. "…It's been too long."

It was her time to close her eyes and let herself get lost in the moment before saying: "I'm sure you've had others that have filled your needs…God knows I've tried to find someone to replace you."

Sin stopped stroking her lock and cupped her face. "Ruby…you know why we had to part ways. I was needed to protect the new world from being taken over by wannabe rulers. But don't think I never missed you or the times we've spent sailing the ocean together. Always, I hated leaving you like that. How many times I wanted to return to you and relive those days and nights we had."

"Then why didn't you?" Ruby wondered, rubbing her cheek against his palm.

"…Duty. I went because I was needed to safeguard the colonies when Sere tried to have an upraising and begin a new domain for Nosferatu," Sin replied with a graveness in his words.

"I want to say that might not have been a bad thing if Sere wasn't such a bloodthirsty scalawag," Ruby added, looking at him again with old affection. "He would have succeeded if you hadn't stepped in on time."

Sin played with her lock of hair again. "Yes…"

"I once thought you'd come back to me after that was all over, but then…" Ruby slapped his chest lightly. "…I learned you adopted that charming girl." She instantly regretted saying those last words.

Sin looked away from her with pain-stabbing sadness in his eyes.

"Sin…I didn't mean to," he quieted her with a finger on her lips.

"You don't need to apologize, Ruby. That's all behind me in the past where it belongs," Sin said, locking his eyes on hers again.

Ruby sighed and let her head rest on his chest, he was too tall for her to rest her head on his shoulder, then a smile appeared on her face. "It's because of that Raven girl, isn't it? She reminds you of her, doesn't she?"

Sin didn't reply, making her lift her head up off his chest and look at him. "Sin?"

"She…looks so much like her, Ruby," Sin said, his voice beginning to crack with emotions. "Being near her is like being near Cynthia…She makes me feel as I did so long ago…so normal."

"Yeah…she was something special to have made you stayed on the land," Ruby said, trying to keep her bitterness from tainting her words.

"I…" Sin started pulling away from her, but she stopped him by wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing him close. "No, don't apologize, Sin," she sighed. "I am the one that should. I did not mean to be so bitter with the time you spent with her."

"Ruby…" Sin tried to say more than her name when his voiced died on him.

"Did you…ever find the time with me make you happy, truly?" Ruby whispered into his shirt.

"I did. The time we spent as man and woman were too great for me to ever forget them," Sin replied, feeling her relax in his arms.

She smiled and hugged his frame. "That was all I've wanted to know from you."

Sin returned her affection with a tight squeeze of his arms. "Sorry for making you believe otherwise."

She giggled and then suddenly pushed away from him and punched him right in the face, knocking him back and falling onto her queen-sized bed. She then pounced on him when his back touched the sheets and straddled his waist; the sudden shift undid the belt of her bathrobe and loosened it enough for the front of it to expose more of her creamy skin and her entire cleavage, a nipple threatening to show itself from its silken cover. Sin forced himself to forget the pain and smile wickedly up at her.

"You want to play, huh?" Sin chuckled deeply.

"That was for making me think I was a cheap thrill for those few centuries," Ruby stated and dug her nails into his chest right along his sharp collarbone line, blood swelling up from where they pressed.

Sin hissed at the pain and smiled like a demon in pure bliss. "Then I'll have to make it up to you."

"Oh, you're gonna make it up to me, savvy," Ruby growled. "We're gonna have a little remake of those good old times right now…all day long."

Sin looked up at her as lust filled his crimson eyes. "Fine by me. It's been way too long since I've done this."

Ruby stared at his face, as if she couldn't believe what he just said. "You? Not deluging in the pleasures of the flesh? When was the last time you got any?"

"Right after the end of the second great war," Sin replied.

Ruby laughed and unlatched her nails from his flesh and running them down his fine muscular chest, leaving blood lines in their wake. "That's far too long for any sane Nosferatu to go without getting any."

"Whoever said I _was_ sane?" Sin joked.

She laughed more. She painted the lines of his chest with his blood, pushing his stained shirt open all the way to see more of him under her. She dug into his flesh again whenever his wounds healed up too quickly to paint more blood on him. After she was satisfied with what she had done, she shifted her body down to sit on his legs and bent down and caressed his blood painted chest with her tongue, trailing it and licking up the blood she had carefully painted on him. The blood of a powerful Nosferatu was unlike any other she has ever tasted, save maybe if she tried the dark Titan girl's blood. That wasn't important to her, though. Her goals in this world weren't desire for power or godhood; she was too free spirited to care for such things. The only things that matter to her were three things: sailing, rum, and a good fuck, and right now she was going to get her third favorite thing in the world and celebrate later with a bottle of rum as a finish.  
Sin let her clean all the blood off of him, and then decided to switch to being the dominant. She squeaked in surprise from the sudden change in position and stared up at his grinning face.

"By the time I'm done with you, you'll be so sore, you won't ever remember a time you weren't," Sin growled seductively.

His words ignited a fire in her loins and she quaked in anticipation, laying back and falling obediently to his will. "Then have me any way you see fit…"

He grabbed the front of her bathrobe and opened it, freeing her large mounds from their skimpy confinement and watched them jiggle a moment as they settled back into place where gravity wanted them to be. She started to raise her arms to play with her breasts the way she knew Sin used to like her doing for him, but he pinned her arms down to either side of her and leaned down and took as much of her voluptuous breast into his mouth, sinking his fangs into her flesh and biting it like a starved wolf for meat. It ripped a scream out of her and blended into a moan when his tongue started rolling around her trapped nipple. He suckled on her flesh and the blood that pooled into his mouth from where his fangs broke skin. How she loved his mouth around her mound of sensitive flesh, ravaging it like a tiger sinking its fangs into some small prey and crushing its skull in its powerful jaws.

Torturing her breast wasn't all he did. He grabbed her other plump one and subjugated it with rough squeezes, pinching, and flicking her already hard nipple, and he did more to her. He wiggled himself between her legs and pressed his groin against her bare sex, as she wasn't wearing any panties and never did in her life. The rough material of his pants rubbing her dampening core helped to excite her more and meet his movements up upward thrusts against the budge growing inside his pants. This made his need more urgent to feel her around him…but that would be too easy and quick. No, he wanted her begging for him, his touch, his flesh.

She tried moving her hips up against his groin to make him feel as needy as she was, but he had pinned her groin, roughly and hard, against the bed. When she tried to run her fingers through his dark tresses, snakes formed from two locks of his hair and wrapped around her wrists and pinned her arms to in a crucifix position under him. The snakes coiled tightly around her wrists, if she were alive, her hands would have turned blue from the instant loss of circulation in them. They rubbed their pointed noses along her palm, flicking their forked tongues and tickling her. She squirmed in delighted torment, wanting to scream from his crushing mouth over her breast and laugh at the same time from the snakes flicking tongues.

Sin unlatched his teeth from her breast and moved to give the other the exact same treatment, his hand moved to her damaged bosom and ran his sharp fingernails roughly over his teeth marks, keeping the wounds open and letting her blood slide freely down her body. More screams echoed the room, mixed with choking giggles and it was all sweet, oh-so-sweet music to Sin.

He got tired of gnawing on her breast soon and moved to lick the blood that had pooled some between her exquisite orbs of flesh and lapped it up with a freakishly long tongue, the tip started to split into a forked end, like a real snakes'. Ruby looked down to watch him lick her and her body shivered when she saw the forked tongue, knowing exactly what he was planning do to with it. He glided down her pale stomach, giving her navel a good lick, making her shudder, and moved the bathrobe away from what little of her flesh it covered and parted her legs roughly, pushing them as far as they would go and then putting more pressure on them. She whimpered. Her legs felt like they were going to snap at any moment.

Sin came to her secret grove and inhaled her scent deeply. His forked tongue slid down over her hairless grove, as she had shaved any proof that she was a natural redhead from the area, and slicked it over her aroused gem, circling it between his forked ends and licked around it. She bucked under his touch, trying to get her message through to him for more since her voice was a rasp of moans and whimpers. He ignored her on purpose and took his time exploring her glistening gates, moving his snake-like tongue between her opening and parting them and making her buck. He then ran his tongue up and down and around her folds to get her wetter for what he would soon be doing to her. He was a bit of a sadist, but he wasn't that cruel when making love, he wanted to be sure her body would respond positively to him when he quenched his own aching body. But first, he was going to make her feel very good.

With his tongue, he pushed through between her swollen lips and closed his own lips over them and kissed her savagely there, invading her warmth with his merciless tongue and nibbling on her opening.

She had forgotten just how good he was at this and just how well he knew her body and how to make it do what he wanted it to do. She fought with what will she had left to push off the pressure wanting to expel from her body. She wanted too long to be in bed with him again and wished to keep it going as long as she could make it. The lonely nights she longed to feel his knowing caresses there again. His otherworldly power pressing down on her like a blanket of velvet wrapping around her body and making her feel pleasure no mortal could dream of experiencing. As if he read her mind—which was the case as her mind was bare to him in her moment of weakened bliss—she sensed the room growing darker and filled with shadows eating what light dared to expose their pleasures. A red glow emitted from his outline, growing with eeriness around him and slither down on her body like the snakes keeping her arms down.

She basked in the power he shared with her, his power…the power of the night. That wasn't quite it to her, though, it was a primeval darkness; too old for the world to consider evil. No, this darkness was older than a time before good and evil were discovered, when everything simply existed and didn't exist. That was what Sin was…the embodiment of that Void that some believed creation was born from when some great will commanded there be light and the universe was born. He was that darkness….untouchable, untainted, pure darkness; the darkness that he shared with her at this moment. She had no reason to be afraid of this darkness or of him. This wasn't frightening to her because she knew he would never leave her alone in this place, this world of nothingness, she trusted him. Why should she be scared when her body was raked with pleasure and meaningful caresses? Touch was the prime key in this sightless world, that and taste for Sin. He moved his tongue as though it were the snakes he could create, he wiggled the length against her walls and rolled it around to lick up her passionate nectar, like it were as precious as the blood that gave them strength and continued existence.

The stimulation was too much for her to resist any more. She came and did it while screaming his name like thunder in the consuming darkness. Sin worked quickly to catch her gushing fluids before they were wasted and lost in the darkness; it was too good to allow that. The action triggered a smaller orgasm for the former pirate, making her whimper more when it flashed through her now oversensitive body.

"Sin…!" She breathed heavily his name. "Please, stop taunting me like this…I need you, now."

The grinning Nosferatu looked up at her. She knew he had by the faint red glow in his eyes portraying that he was. "I'm only doing as you wanted…did you not want me to make this up to you best to my abilities?" he grinned wider.

"I don't fucking care! Just do me, now!" Ruby shouted wildly at him.

Nothing happened for a moment. Then she felt another pair of snakes wrap around her ankles, keeping her locked in her fully exposed position when she felt a hand leave her legs and trail up her hip, then her waist and up to rest on her ribs, just barely touching her voluptuous bosoms. Right after that, she heard the sound of pants being unzipped and a ruffling sound of leather as he removed them.

Her slow beating heart, which had speeded up to a normal humans' beat when she got worked up, started beating rapidly at the anticipation of what was to come. The hand that he had used to free himself returned eagerly to her body and parted her open for him, then he was suddenly deep in her, pushing in till he was fully in her in one rough thrust. The action ripped a deep moan from her, whimpering his name. He then started drawing out of her and then ramming back into her, causing her some pain with the sweet, oh-so-sweet pleasure with him being inside her. There was no one else that filled her like he did. Nowhere near the way he knew how to move that made her inner walls hug him so welcomely. He moved with his hips in a rolling counter-clockwise fashion in her, managing to fill her with all of him and draw most of him out with every smooth lengthy roll of his hips; accomplishing with this style, her endless moaning and sighing.

She met his moves with her own upward thrusts, hearing him starting to moan some. His mouth came back to hers and crushed it forcefully to where she thought he might break her jaw by accident, just how she loved him to kiss her. Minutes past by unaccounted for as they were ruled by their lust, passion that must have lasted for hours, which really were still minutes, but to her, time froze for them and she had reached whatever could pass for Heaven for creatures like them. When it was at last the time they reached their climax, she screamed with his name written on her lips, as was hers when he came right after her.

The darkness that had filled the room retreated back to wherever it came from and they were left exposed in the natural darkness of the room; with Sin laying on top of her and her limbs now free from their serpentine restraints and now wrapped around him, she twisted her legs around his with one thigh rubbing his outer one, and her hands running up and down his bare back, at last.

"That was just like how I remembered it," Ruby purred affectionately, kissing his strong jaw line.

"I aim…to please," Sin replied feebly, with a satisfied smile.

She raised an eyebrow and gave him a leering smiling. "You're tired already?"

Her defying tone sparked his passion again. "If you think that, then you'll be wrong."

She placed her hands on his hips and pulled them against hers. "Then prove it."

And he did, all through the morning and through the afternoon did he prove it.

Around early noon time, two teenage boys were walking by the hotel and moving past it and went two blocks down away from it. They then took a right at the corner of a street and went half a block and then turned into an empty alleyway. The boy walking on the left side had blonde-brown hair, green eyes and a few freckles lining from cheek, over his nose, to his other cheek. The other boy had average features. Brunette, messy locks hanging down from all sides of his head and brown eyes.

"You sure we should be doing this, Ian?" the freckled boy wondered worriedly.

Ian looked at his friend out of the corner of his eye. "Don't tell me you're chickening out, Joe?"

"I'm not chickening out!" Ian quickly defended. "I just…I don't know. I'm just getting a bad feeling about all this."

Joe might have made a snide remark, but he learned long ago to trust Ian's instincts. They usually were right and they were what kept the both of them alive up since their town had become a hellhole. He sighed and grasped his friend's shoulder.

"You know I listen to you whenever you get these feelings, Joe," Ian said "But we can't just sit idly as our town is being overrun by monsters!"

"What do you think we have the Teen Titans for?!" Joe retorted.

"Bah! They haven't done anything! If they did, do you think we'd be living in the gutters like we have since those monsters came and killed most of our family! If they had kept a better eye on them, do you think we could still be worrying about passing school or making or to take to our senior prom or spending dinner time with our loved ones?" Ian stated harshly. "No! Because the Titans have forgotten us and spend all their time doing who knows what! You know what I think? I think maybe those fucking things got to them!"

"But I saw them not too long ago fighting those vampires," Joe claimed. "They haven't forgotten us…"

"Why is it then that Robin has been dressing up like some whacked out weirdo from one of those cheesy horror films? He freaking looks like a Spike rip off for crying out loud!" Ian exclaimed heatedly.

"…There must be a reasonable explanation for all that's been going on with them," Joe replied.

Ian snorted rudely. "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna stand here anymore and watch our town become the next fucking Gotham, because of those things running amok and ruining it for us and everyone!"

"But, Ian! You can't really believe that this…this cult is the answer!?" Joe protested.

Ian just stared at him. "At this point, I don't really believe in anything or care to anymore. If this is just a waste of time and proves to be a bunch of wacko cultists, then we'll split...but if they really are able to help us, then isn't that worth the risk?"

"…Maybe," Joe conceded reluctantly. "But I still can't shake the feeling that something is amiss with this Cult. For crying out loud, Joe, they call themselves the Church of Blood! For all we know, these cultist are or working for the vampires! Thinking about us plus blood plus crazy vampires equal dead meat for us!"

"Yeah, it's a bit of a risk…but we heard from Jimmy himself, didn't we?" Ian said. "They'll give us the means to kill and stop these vampires once and for all!"

"But what will we be giving up?" Joe murmured quietly to himself.

"Huh, what?" Ian uttered, looking at him closer. "You say something?"

Joe shook his head and averting his eyes. "No, I didn't say anything." _'Except try to be the voice of reason here…'_

They came to the end of the alley and came to see a group of other young individuals like themselves lounging about. Some looked very excited and were chatting amongst their friends who came about what they might expect to happen. There were a few who just kept to themselves, looking anti-social and trying to act like they were invisible. The rest just looked plain scared and lost. Ian and Joe picked an unoccupied spot and waited silently for what they were all here for. Luckily, or so the teenagers thought, they didn't have to wait for long. A large black van appeared at the entrance of the alley and backed in and rode slowly to them. It stopped just two feet from them and men in red robes hopped out the back of the van, swinging the doors open. One of them approached all of them, hands together and hood too low for them to obvious any personal identification of this person to make out.

"Welcome all…" a masculine, stoic voice greeted. "For those of you who have come here, you have taken the first step down the right path. The path that will grant you all your desires and wishes."

"Just what will you be able to do for us?" a teenager with red hair grunted at the man.

"As I said, everything that you are here for," the cultist replied in the same stoic tone. "By joining the

Church of Blood…you will be granted not just the power to defeat the monsters plaguing your homes, but you all will become a part of something greater in the master plan. You will serve and act as the swords and daggers of the Church and strike down all that wish your destruction."

"Pretty sentiment, pal…but what will we be given?" the red-haired repeated impatiently.

The cultist stepped to the side and unfolded his arms and waved one sleeve concealed hand to the back of the van. "Only what you are brave enough to take. If you have your doubts then stay here…and wait for the vampires to claim you. But if you, any of you, have the nerve to make that step to greatness, then step right into the van."

No one moved at first. Unsure as they looked, they remained where they were and gazed at the back of the van. The cultist tilted his head, then shrugged and waved to his accomplice. "Let us depart. It looks like none of these…children have the courage."

Ian grew angry at that remark and marched over to the van, shaking off Joe's hand when he tried to hold him back. "I'll show you courage." He glared at the cultist and stepped into the van.

The cultist nodded. "I believe you will." He turned to see if anyone else was going to join him.

Joe groaned loudly and grumbled over to the van and joined his friend inside. After he went in two more joined them in the van, then five, then all of them tried, but the cultist stopped the last few when they came up.

"There is no more room in the van. Wait here and we will send another van to pick the rest of you up," the cultist said, then waved to his accomplice and they both closed the back entrance after climbing in with the teenagers in the back. The cultist walked over some of them and banged on the back of the wall behind the driver. The van began moving and the cultist made himself comfortable next to his accomplice and the two were quiet for most of the trip.

The redhead that was one of the teenagers that got in moved over to them. "Hey, maybe you can answer some of our questions since it might be a while till we get to wherever. What exactly will you guys be able to do to us?"

The cultist who spoke to them earlier raised his head. "Turn you all into the perfect tools to deliver…carnage."

"What?" the redhead uttered, backing away from him. "Hey! What the hell does that mean?!"

Before any of them could press the two cultists, the back of the cabin of the van was filled with gas and all the teenagers choked and collapsed to their hands and knees. Joe was at the back trying to open the back doors. It was all in vain, sadly, he breathed in too much gas when it filled the cabin up. He landed on his side next to his already unconscious friend, Ian, and tried crawling to the two cultists, who seemed unaffected by the gas.

"W-Wha…are you…?" Then his whole world became black, and soon that would be all he would know.

When all of them were down, the gas was vented out and the two cultists raised their hands and drew back their hoods and metal gleamed off them from the faint ceiling light.

"All hail, Brother Blood…" they said in unison, with crimsons glowing eyes.

Later that evening, at Titans Tower, Sin strolled into the common room out of a dark portal with the most relaxed smile on his face. Robin glanced up from the couch where he and Raven were currently lying together on, reading one of her books.

"Hey, Sin! How are…whoa…" Robin gaped.

Sin stopped and stared at his fledgling. "What is it?"

Robin sat up as did Raven when she saw the smile on his face. She raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Did something interesting happen?"

Sin chuckled mischievously and walked over to them and leaned over and placed his hands on the back of the couch. "I had some…help from a dear friend."

Right then, Lynx and Starfire came into the common room, laughing about something that Lynx said. The wereleopard looked merry enough when he came closer to them, but then stopped and sniffed the air and looked right at Sin, and the most perverted of smile rose up on his lips.

"Ooo, somebody had a good time today," Lynx said.

Sin groaned and shot him a glare over his shoulder. "Shut it, cat…"

Lynx ignored the glare and sauntered over to him and sniffed him closely. "Hmm, perfume…A woman! Well, that answers the question if you slept with a man or woman. Hehehehe!"

Sin's right eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I'm warning you…"

Lynx kept on sniffing him and then stopped and gasped. "You were with Ruby today, weren't you?! She's the only one I know that wears that one kind of perfume…'Affectionate Shore' I believe it's called. Hehehe! Sin got some booty! Sin got some booty!"

If Lynx hadn't closed his eyes to dance about, he would have seen the fist come flying right at him. The fist connected with his face and threw him clear to the other side of the room.

"I warned you, little punk," Sin growled with a perturbed look.

Lynx peeled himself off the wall and stumbled some, and then glared back at Sin. "Oy! That was a cheap shot!" He dashed over to Sin and pounced on top of him, biting right into his skull and gnawing on him. "Grrr!"

"Gah!" Sin yelped and started batting at his head. "Get off! Bad leopard!"

He lost his balance when he tried to yank Lynx off him, and the two tumbled down to the floor and started wrestling around. Limbs were flying everywhere as the two rolled around in attempt to pin the other, Lynx still with his mouth clamped tightly on his skull.

"Stop biting me!" Sin growled, rolling on Lynx.

Lynx growled more and clamped harder, kicking him off of him with his teeth remaining in his head. The two rolled about on the floor like this with just the three Titans watching with clear amusement on their faces.

"Isn't the bonds of brotherhood grand!?" Starfire beamed, clasping her hands together and holding them up to her face and smiling at the two.

"Yeah, right…bloody death-match is more the words," Raven remarked, following the two with her eyes.

Robin just smiled and laughed while watching the two fight about like a couple of kids. It was rare to see Sin so laid back and happy despite having someone chewing on his head…what great wonders getting laid will do for someone. The thought made Robin chuckle lightly and soon his eyes were shifting over to Raven. Sensing his mood thanks to her empathic powers, she greeted his eyes with a look that promised something later.

Starfire was oblivious to the other two's moment, too wrapped up in watching her furry boyfriend playing around with Sin. Although, playing wasn't a strong enough word for what they were doing together. Maybe on some other planet this would be considering playing around, but she doubted it very seriously that having Sin punching Lynx right in the face and Lynx tugging on his cheeks roughly could be called play.

"Heh, heh! I never thought I'd see the great Sin rustling around on the ground like an eight-year-old," Robin chuckled, and soon regretted it.

"Think this is funny, huh?" Sin snapped, then reached up grabbed Robin by the face and yanked him off the couch and pulled him into the fray with him and Lynx, using the back of his head to smack Lynx in the face.

"Ow! Ow!" OW!" Robin groaned with each strike.

"Love hurts, Robin! Deal with it!" Sin grumbled, beating Lynx harder with Robin's head.

They tumbled about in the middle of the room when Cyborg and Beast Boy came in, wanting to play their video games and not seeing Robin, Sin, and Lynx until they plowed right into them, getting dragged into the fray.

"What the hell?!" Cyborg shouted, grabbing one of Sin's legs and trying to get him off him, but kept getting kicked in the back of the head by Lynx.

"What…Started…This?!" Beast Boy wondered, somehow ending right between where Robin's head was being bashed into Lynx's face, his face starting to change from green to black and blue.

Now all of them rolled about on the ground, wrestling, or that's what Sin and Lynx were doing, the other three were just trying to get out of the fight in one piece. Starfire was smart and floated up above them whenever they started coming too close to her. Raven was safe where she was on the couch. The two girls just watched happily as all of them were beginning to have fun. Sin had stopped using Robin to bash Lynx with, and the wereleopard for his part pulled his teeth out of his skull and now they all were just plain wrestling; Beast Boy was slightly cheating as whenever one of them got him in a hold, he'd morph into something small and wiggle free, then morphed back into something with more strength, like a gorilla or grizzly bear. He had to! He was up against an elder Nosferatu, the fledgling of one, and a cybernetic enhanced human! He had to cheat! For survival if nothing else!

Few minutes rolled by and all of the boys and Sin were laughing. After another few minutes, they collided with the couch, knocking it over and Raven off of it during the process. She recovered herself by levitating herself up before smacking down against the ground. Sin was upside down with Lynx next to him and leaning and facing away from his upturn back. Robin somehow ended up on the other side of the couch with Raven, and Beast Boy, in his normal form, was sitting on top of Cyborg. Each one of them laughing away and laughing more whenever they looked at the position the others were in.

Lynx got a bit of a grip with himself and leaned off of Sin to let his legs return to their rightful angle. Sin continued to laugh while lying on the floor. Beast Boy was in a fit of giggles and Cyborg was hoping he wouldn't burst a circuit with how hard he was laughing. The laughter was contagious by nature because Starfire and Raven were laughing themselves.

"Hah, hah! What's so funny by the way?" Beast Boy asked once he calmed down enough to form words.

Robin rolled onto his side and covered his eyes with a light laughter rolling through his body still. "Heh, heh, heh! I don't know. Just for some reason was in the mood to laugh…Hah, hah!"

Lynx had returned slightly to normal, sitting up and leaning on the table to wait till his breath caught up with him. He was just getting it back when he spotted something run really fast across the floor, heading for the kitchen. His instincts kicked in then and his tail bristled up and his ears went flat. "RAT!"

Starfire twirled around in the air and shrieked for a moment in search of the rat. She caught the movement and something in her made her drop to the ground on all floors and arched her back up and watched the movement dart here and there. Lynx was suddenly next to her and the two watched and waited for the right moment to….POUNCE!

"I got it!" Starfire and Lynx exclaimed, and both lunged at the small shadowy critter. It panicked and squeaked for its life when it looked up to see two very large shadows dive down upon it.

The rat scurried for the kitchen, dodging their clutching hands and snapping mouths, in Lynx case, and run for all its might over the slippery tile flooring when it reached the kitchen and dashed under one of the cabinets. The two chasing after it slammed face first into the door of the cabinet and took a moment to rub their aching faces, more so for Lynx as his was really sore from Sin clubbing him with Robin's head earlier.

While he rubbed his face, Starfire had opened the cabinet door and was tossing things out to find the rat. It wasn't until she had found the small hole and was pawing at it with her hands, as if trying to make the hole bigger for herself to pass through, that she stopped and wiggled free from the cabinet and sat on the tile floor and stared at Lynx puzzlingly.

"I had just experienced an overwhelming urge to hunt that poor little creature and even more urge to…" she stared at Lynx for the longest moment with wide eyes, then back at her staring teammates. "…eat it!"

Lynx twitched his nose until all the pain was gone and he was sure his face was its old self again, and then turned around to lean against the cabinet. "…Yeah, you're gonna have more of those urges, Star-doll. It's almost time for the full moon. Meaning the more that night approaches, the more you're gonna start acting like how you just did."

Starfire covered her mouth. "Eep!"

"Hey! That's what that little guy in there is supposed to sound like," Lynx teased, jerking his thumb at the cabinet.

Sin chuckled at that and sat up. "You _are_ preparing for her shapeshift, right, Lynx?"

"Yeah!...Well, sort of…" Lynx said shyly.

"Sort of?!" Sin exclaimed infuriately. "Lynx!"

Lynx covered his ears. "Ow! Don't yell so loud. These guys on my head are sensitive, you know?"

"I know somewhere else that's about to become more sensitive if you don't make sure you're ready for her transformation," Sin warned.

Lynx gulped and pulled Starfire close to him. "Whoa! We haven't consummated our relationship fully yet….leave me with something at least."

Sin grunted at him. "It'll grow back…slowly."

Lynx cringed and pulled Starfire closer to him. Starfire petted his ears idly.

"I'm sure Lynx will have it all sorted out before my first full moon," Starfire said.

"He better," Sin growled with a threatening look.

"I will! I will!" Lynx promised. "…But it's hard for me to get some of my clan members over here since they've tighten things over in Europe, no thanks to all the damn foreign Nosferatu flocking over here."

Sin groaned and sat up. "Yes…those damn fools have no idea what they're doing. They've forgotten all the rules, just for the chance for greater immortally." He shrugged then. "Can't say I blame them…power like that would be tempting for anyone."

"Even you?" Raven asked, without looking at him while she was fixing the couch.

Sin stood up and walked over to her and touched her cheek. "I know enough to know that too much power is never a good thing. And what would true immortally grant me but heartache in the long run." He kneeled down and ran a hand over her hair. "To see all my loved ones die and just be afraid to make news one with the knowledge that one day, they too, will pass on…where's I will always be stuck here and never being able to pass on to join them in the next. No, immortally is a trap…and I've lived long enough to know this."

She touched his hand and leaned into it. "But isn't that already the case with you? You've lived so long…and we'll all pass on. I know that all of us except for you and Robin will die one day, what will you do then?"

A look past over his face, one that she wasn't happy at all to see there. "As I've said, Raven…I've lived a long time."

Raven started crying without realizing it and placed her other hand on his. "...You can't mean that."

Lynx slowly pulled himself away from Starfire and came to stand next to him. "Sin…you sound like you…"

Sin grinned or tried to. "…Yes. One day…it will happen."

Now Robin came over to him. "Sin, you don't mean you want to die, do you?!"

His quiet reply was all the answer he needed.

Raven clung to his hand. "Please, don't think things like that."

Sin instantly started chuckling then. The switch in his mood took them all off guard. He leaned forward and kissed Raven on her forehead and squeezed her hand. "Hehehehe! You all are acting like I'm gonna do it now!"

"But…you just admitted…" Cyborg started saying just to get cut off when Sin looked at him.

"I said one day, Cyborg," Sin replied. "And that day won't come until either a stronger opponent kills me or all of you are gone…" He turned to look at Robin and then Raven. "I promise that to myself when I made you my family. If you all died…that I would come after you and be with you all in the next life."

"Sin…You don't mean that," Robin said.

Sin let his hand slip out of Ravens' and stood up and turned to Robin. "I mean every word of it, Robin.

Nothing is forever, and I'm tired of losing people meaningful to me. I'd rather join them in true death than live alone again."

"Man…that's so sad," Beast Boy remarked.

"Yeah, but that's life." Sin replied, then let loose an evil crackle.

"Dude, you really need therapy," Beast Boy grumbled at him, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sin stopped laughing. "I think I'd make the therapist run under his couch after the first session." Then he laughed some more.

"Crazy loon," Cyborg mumbled.

"TACKLE!" Sin cried out suddenly and jackhammered Cyborg to the ground.

"Whoof!" Cyborg wheezed, landing on his back. He smacked Sin on the head repeatedly with his elbow. "What the hell was that for!?"

Sin countered by flipping off him and landing with his foot on Cyborg's face. "Just felt like it! _AHAHAHAHAHA_!"

Cyborg knocked his foot off his face and grumbled a few dirty words at the laughing Nosferatu and got back to his feet. Sin stepped back with a lighter grin on his face. Raven groaned a sigh and finished fixing the couch with her levitating power and sat back down on it and picked up her book. Robin rejoined his spot next to her and the two returned to their reading, or would have if a cellphone hadn't gone off. Sin reached into his jacket and pulled out a cellphone.

"Who is it," Sin stated more than asked.

"It's Hornet," came a reply. "We have a situation."

Sin put his cellphone on speaker for them all to hear. "What kind of situation?"

"We just had a run in with some odd characters in red robes. They attacked a hideout we found and killed all the Nosferatu hiding out in there and then came at us when we approached them," Hornet said with a grim tone. "…They forced us to retreat."

Robin got off the couch. "What?"

Sin repeated his amazement to Hornet.

"These robed men were strong, Sin…Too strong. We were unable to identify what they were because of their garments and Freya couldn't make out what they were either. She said they were…false things," Hornet said. "I don't know what she meant by it, but she was worried, Sin, really worried."

Sin appeared to have gone paler than normal. "…Get back here, all of you. Whatever this new threat is, we can't afford any major losses."

"We're already on our way, Sin. We're just outside…Sin, there here! Look out!" Hornet warned.

It was too late. Explosions suddenly rocked the Tower and all of them stumbled to the floor. Starfire and Raven were the first to get up, using their flying abilities to orient themselves. Sin and Robin and Lynx were next, and then Cyborg, and Beast Boy lastly, who kept falling down and gave up and turned into a hummingbird.

"How did they get past the security?!" Cyborg roared, fighting to stay on his feet.

Nobody could give him an answer when another explosion shook the Tower. A second after the Tower re-stabilized enough for them to stand; the entrance exploded and robed figures stormed into the common room. All of them were wearing red robes and hoods too low for them to make out any kind of identification.

"Surrender…or die," one of the robe men stated in a stoic voice.

Robin glared at them and his eye flashed darkly. "Like hell…"

None of them gave anymore chances after that one warning. They charged the Titans as one, surprising them all with their speed. Robin caught a fist that was aimed right at his face just a split second before it hit him. Raven sprung a shield around her when four rushed at her and kicked and punched at her. Starfire buzzed around a two who targeted her and blasted them back with her optic blast. One dodged her attack but it struck the other and slammed him back, burning away his robe and Starfire gasped when she saw what lay underneath it.

"They're robots!" Starfire revealed to her teammates, pointing to the armored plated chest of the robed man.

"No! Worse!" Sin said, grabbing one by the head and smashing his head down hard on the floor, dazing him long enough for him to pull back the hood.

Under the hood was a human face on one side, on the other was a frighteningly familiar cybernetic design. Cyborg punched one of the robed men away from him and ran over to Sin and gazed down at the exposed man.

"…No, that's…" Cyborg stumbled, losing his voice.

"Like you, Cyborg?" a maniacal, intellectual voice said snidely.

Cyborg jerked his head up at the ruined entrance and saw his most hated villain standing there with his arms folded behind him.

"Brother Blood!" Cyborg hissed, clinching his fists.

Blood held up a hand and all the robed men stopped moving and retreated to his side.

"How do you like my new minions, Cyborg?" Brother Blood jeered, nodding to them. "They're nothing like the full cybernetic ones that you all faced. They're stronger and much more deadlier than them, as your 'new friends' found out earlier."

"Blood, what did you do to them!?" Cyborg demanded.

Brother Blood gave him an impatient look. "Isn't it obvious, Cyborg? I made them what they wanted to become. Stronger, better than they once were in their weak fleshy bodies. I've turned them into the perfect followers for my cult. It was rather easy to gather _willing_ specimens. They all came flocking to me when I promised them a way to fight the plague that's overrun their town. And I've kept my promise and now they serve a higher purpose!"

"You've done nothing but made them your slaves!" Cyborg accused.

Blood shrugged his shoulders. "Same difference. _Followers_ , _servants_ , _slaves_ , it all matters not what you might want to call them as long as they do my bidding," Blood said, and placed a hand on his chest. "So long as they do as I say, that is all that matters."

"You damn, you son-of-a…!"

Blood wagged a finger at him. "Uh-uh! Watch your language young man. It's not becoming."

Cyborg growled in fury at him and shifted his arm into its cannon mode. "I'll make you pay for this, Blood!" He raised it up and targeted Blood.

The robed men moved swiftly and stood between Blood and Cyborg.

"You might want to think twice about attacking, Cyborg. These people might not have any free will anymore, but they're still very much alive," Brother Blood stated with a mocking chuckle. "If you attack, you'll be harming an innocent bystander."

Sin started moving. Drawing his sword out as he did and posed it at the ready at his side. Blood stared at him curiously and when he didn't show any signs of stopping he glared at him. "Did you not hear what I just said, you idiot? If you attack me, you'll be hurting these people trying to get to me."

Sin kept on coming. "So?"

Brother Blood raised an eyebrow up. "Don't you care about their lives?"

"They're nothing more than living dolls now," Sin said simply. "Killing them would be a mercy."

"How noble," Brother Blood sneered. "But I should tell you. They're all too aware of what's happening to them. They only do what I wish because I will them to do it with my powers! If you hurt them, they'll be screaming in their minds. If you kill them, they'll be wondering why you couldn't save them instead, hating you forever for not being able to. Can you live with yourself if you did that to them?"

"You'd be amazed what I'm able to live with," Sin growled back and leaped up over the robed men, kicking one of the head when it tried to grab his feet. He used another's head as a stepping stone and jumped off and landed behind Brother Blood with his sword at his neck. "But seeing how all I need to do is kill you to free them, there's no need to kill them."

Brother Blood chuckled humorlessly. "You think it's that easy?" His eyes glowed and attacked him mentally at his mind to cease control of it. "Now then, lower your sword and attack the Titans."

His response was an evil chuckle and the sword at his throat rose higher. "You think you can just control my mind just like that?! You have no idea who you're playing with here, human."

"I see…" Brother Blood growled. "You're one of those pests that have been raiding the city. That's why I can't control your mind."

"Give the man a star!" Sin said sarcastically.

"A pity that I can't control your kind with my powers. I could have put your powers to better use serving my goals," Brother Blood said mildly.

"And I'll see to it that you never achieve that kind of power," Sin vowed.

Brother Blood grunted a laugh and faster than Sin was expecting, his elbow slammed into his arm, knocking his sword away. Blood spun around and punched Sin in the side of the head with a back-handed swipe. Sin fell to the floor harder than he thought he was going to and his vision dazed for a moment. It returned in time for him to move his head from the foot coming down on it. He rolled away and flipped back to his feet and posed his sword up in an offensive stance with a grin on his face.

"You're gonna make this fun," Sin said, grinner wider.

Brother Blood looked troubled for a second by his response then snarled at him. "This isn't a game, fool."

"But it is to me…It's all a big game to me," Sin countered, his eyes flashing dangerously.

Brother Blood smirked arrogantly at him and raised a hand pointing to the Titans. "Kill them, but leave this one to me. I'll take care of him myself."

"Make my night," Sin said with an eager look.

"I'll do more than that," Brother Blood stated, standing erect and bringing his hand back before him.

Sin went for first blood and attacked him, coming at him fast and deadly with his sword point up and angled to impale him. Blood caught the sword with the palms of his hands and twisted his hands. Sin was forced to twist with his sword and leave his side exposed. Blood gripped the blade with one hand and slid it down its length, sparks igniting down the blade, until it reached the end and he twirled right, yanking the sword out of his hand and burying the blade in its owner's side. He was momentarily pleased with the strike. That was just before he saw the grin on his opponent's face and watched as he dissolved into vapors of shadows along with the sword in him.

Blood was swift to dodge a blade aimed for his throat, having to twist at the waist to miss the full thrust from getting him. As it was, the tip of the blade nicked him on the neck and sliced the metallic skin over it. He pivoted back and back-handed another swipe that came at him and stood with a feral snarl on his face.

"You're getting on my last nerves," Brother Blood stated. "No one gets me like this!"

"I'm glad I can leave an impression," Sin countered and rushed him again, this time with his sword glowing red. "Try this on for size." His eyes flashed the same red as his sword. " _ **Crimsons Laceration!"**_

Brother Blood merely smirked at the oncoming energy blades and raised his shield to block the attack. What he didn't expect was that it was really a feint. On the last slash of his sword, Sin grabbed the hilt of his sword with both hands. " _ **Crimson Finale!"**_

His image split and five replicas of Sin stood around Brother Blood and all of them came at him as one. They dashed past him, slicing the air around him in a ballet of death. Blood did not have enough time to pull the shield around him entirely when one of the replicas slashed his back and another left a gash in his right arm. Growling in anger, Blood dropped the shield and raised his hands with his index and middle fingers pointed up and glowing red. With them, he blocked the relentless assault as fast as he was able. Most of them he managed to parry, yet, some were able to get past him and nick his armor.

The Titans weren't fairing very well with their opponents. Knowing that they were fighting opponents that had no control over themselves made it difficult to lay any harm on them. Lynx on the other hand didn't let that slow him down. He delivered kicks and clawed at a few with his grown talons and shocked any who were unfortunate enough to get slashed by him.

"Lynx! Ease up! These are innocent people you're hurting!" Robin reminded him, dodging a kick aimed to take his head off.

Lynx replied with a feral growl. "I haven't killed any of them, have I? You can't just play the defensive, Robin! These guys will kill us with no hesitation, we have to cripple them or disable them somehow!"

Robin growled himself. Lynx did have a point. "Do whatever you can to stop them, just keep fatalities down to zero!"

"Easier said than done!" Beast Boy replied, swiftly morphing into a gorilla and punching one of the robed men back. It smacked against the wall and then quickly pulled himself out of the wall and came back at him.

Raven flew over to Starfire. "Star! Keep them off me for a minute. I'm gonna try to make a containment field to put them in!"

Starfire nodded her head and positioned herself between Raven and the attacking cyborgs. As she blasted and kicked and punched them back, she began feeling something crawling out of her, something making her blood heat up and her hands and fingers ache. She wanted to cause real harm to her opponents, not just push them away. Her fingers wanted to feel their blood pouring over them and feeling flesh being rendered as her nails—no claws tore into them. Her green eyes narrowed down and she started snarling at them, growling at any who got too close to her and swipe at them with her energized hands.

Raven was too busy concentrating on her spell to notice the change in Starfire's persona. She murmured the words as fast and as precisely as she could. Above her an orb of purplish light grew and started growing bigger as she repeated her spell again and again, growing larger than her own size and continued growing larger. Reaching the end of her spell, the orb stopped growing, and she opened her glowing eyes and raised herself above the orb with her arms extended out from her sides.

"Throw them into the orb! It'll contain them without harming them!" Raven shouted at everyone.

Robin was the first to hear her and side-stepped from his opponent and grabbed him by the collar of his robe and lifted him over his head and tossed him at the orb. The cyborg was quickly sucked into the orb when it touched it and started floating motionlessly inside.

"You heard her! Start throwing them inside the orb!" Robin repeated the order.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were able to toss their opponents in, Lynx had to stun one with an electric charged fist and then grabbed his head and flung him over this shoulder. They then went after all the other robed figures and worked them toward the orb to join their trapped comrades. Starfire, though, had left defending Raven and was pushing one robed cyborg away from the orb, growling savagely and smacking the cyborg around with her fists, burning the robe away to show it was once a teenager, most of his body was concealed in armor except over the same locations on Cyborg, but where's his was silver, the cyborgs' was black. She racked her nails at his face, slicing his remaining cheek and knocked him onto his back with a kick from her knee under his chin. She never gave the cyborg a chance to get up. She dove on top of him and roared uncharacteristically for her and punched the cyborg mercilessly, beating on him down against the floor, starting to leave dents in his armor.

Lynx's sensitive earring quickly picked out that roar of hers and looked in her direction and paled. "Starfire! Don't do it!" He leapt over some of the remaining robed cyborgs to get to her, but he was too late.

Starfire raised a charged hand over the cyborg and brought it down, smashing through its chest armor and digging into the machinery works inside, growing giddy when she found some parts that weren't metal or fake. The cyborg never made a noise as she worked on ripping chunks out of him; both metallic things…and real things Lynx tackled her and pinned her as best he could. She raged under him. Clawing at him to get him off her so she could continue ravaging her prey.

Prey?

That one word echoed in her mind for some reason and something inside her told her it was wrong to think that. She tried to figure out why it was wrong and as she did, she started calming down. Lynx was bloodied by her nails that had oddly grown somewhat longer, but if he was pain, he never showed it. The cuts on him were minor, anyway. They were quickly healing up fast…though, if Starfire were really using claws, he'd have been in a worse state.

"Star…come on, babe, calm down…remember yourself," Lynx whispered to her, hugging her and straddling her. "Don't let yourself go wild…please don't, that's not a trip you want to make…please calm down."

His words broke through the wild haze she found herself in, blinking confused eyes; she wondered why Lynx looked so distrait. She moved her hands up to hug him and reassured him everything was all right, but then she felt something warm and wet on her hands. She brought one up for her to see and her heart jumped up into her throat. Her hand was covered in blood and other glistening fluids.

"…W-What," Starfire muttered to herself and turned her head when she spotted a trail on the floor leading back to its source, the motionless cyborg, seeing the large, gaping hole in its torso.

And somehow after Lynx had gotten her off of the cyborg, the person that it once was had turned his head to stare at her with dead, pleading, frightened eyes…

Starfire screamed and screamed…and screamed some more.

Her screams echoed to the others, who had just finished containing the remaining robed cyborgs looked over and spotted the horrifying site almost next to Starfire and Lynx. Their horror was silently shared. None of them had any time to help Starfire as screamed and cried on the floor with Lynx keeping her down and trying to calm her, they had to help Sin fight Brother Blood. The said combatants were going head to head. Blood was countering all the replicas with his flawless martial art skills and psychic enhanced strikes and inhuman agility. Were it not for those, he'd be at the mercy of Sin.

The grinning Nosferatu hadn't stopped attacking Brother Blood when Starfire started screaming. It might have been because his focus was split into four replicas of himself, or he had to keep his guards up to keep Blood on the defensive, or he was just oblivious to the screams. For whatever reason it was, he ignored her agonized screams and continued fighting Blood without faltering in his actions. Moving with fearsome ferocity against the mind-controller, he landed a few good wounds on him, slicing up his cybernetic armor. Blood was keeping on his toes to keep those attacks from hitting any vital points. Robin halted the others, thinking that Sin had a handle on the fight, and looked like it was just a matter of time before Sin finished this little fight…that's how it looked, anyway.

Brother Blood roared furiously suddenly, emitting a burst of dark red energy around him and knocked back all of the replicas. The replicas dispersed into vapors of darkness when the energy touched them, revealing the real Sin being thrown back away from Blood, with his arms up guarding his face from the unexpected attack. Brother Blood came at him fast with a single hand thrust in his gut, taking one small step toward him and crutching down on his knees and bending his arm and slamming his elbow under Sin's jaw. The hit stunned Sin, forcing him to stumble back for a moment. Brother Blood pressed his advance and rushed up under him again and struck him in the solar plexus with a swift uppercut, digging his talon-ended fingers in and ripping through skin, muscles, and lungs. He pulled back a blood-stained hand and smirked at his own superior fighting skills, taking great sadistic pride in them. And as if that wasn't enough, he brought up his other hand, fast as lightning, up and impaled Sin in the center of his chest, breaking through the sternum and piercing his lungs again and gave his hand a twist.

Sin's eyes bulged out and he started coughing up blood. He reached out to grab the invading hand and yank it out of him, but was stopped when Blood focused his deadly energy in his buried hand and blasted Sin right off his hand, sending him crashing against the wall. Brother Blood came at him again with his fingers extended and together, like it was a blade, and aimed the next strike for Sin's heart. His attack was deterred when he jumped back to avoid the optic blast from Robin's Evil Eye.

Brother Blood glared in his direction and faltered for a moment when he gazed at the Dark Boy Wonder's angry eye. It sent a chill of perpetual doom running down his spine from the feral look Robin glared at him with, bleeding from the corner of his eye and glowing with rage.

"Fascinating trick you've obtained, Robin…but you cannot beat me," Brother Blood said, then sent a mind-probe at him to invade and control his mind and quickly snarled when he found the same resistance as Sin in him. "…Blast it, even young vampires like yourself are immune. I guess it is no choice but to eliminate your stinking race entirely. I can't have anyone that can resist my control to run lose."

"Is that why you've had all your pawns attack all the vampires?" Robin deduced, his eye glowing more and more with rage.

Brother Blood was courteous enough to nod to him. "Yes, Robin. I cannot have anyone or anything that might threaten my reign and power."

"Hah, your reign!?" Sin hissed when his lungs finished sealing enough for him to contain air to speak, pulling himself off the wall and standing unsteadily on his feet. "You're just another fucking power-hungry human with delusions of total world dominance. Your type never succeeds. What makes you think you can?"

"Because none of them were me," Brother Blood retorted, eyeing his healed chest. "Hmm, you recover quickly."

Sin readied his sword at his side. "You'll find there's more to me than you think."

"We'll see…" Brother Blood snipped with thin lips.

"Titans! GO!" Robin ordered, and all the Titans, excluding Starfire, attacked.

Beast Boy ran toward Brother Blood, morphing into a raptor and leaping up and coming down on him with teeth and claws. Brother Blood side-stepped quickly and avoided the snapping jaws and kicked the green raptor's head, dazing him and back-handed him away from him with a look of disgusted tolerance. Cyborg roared and charged at Blood with a fist swinging at his head. Brother Blood caught the fist, easily, ducked under the arm, grabbing his throat, and lifted and threw his considered arch-rival over his head and pivoted to the right as Robin fired another beam at him, incinerating the spot he had been standing. Blood swung his arm up, hand glowing red, dashing up to Robin with the same speed as himself and slashed his face, blinding him with his own blood. Again, Blood had to pivot away when Raven circled around Robin and swiped at him with black energy that would have sliced him into pieces.

He countered this with his red glowing hand, blasting her in the stomach before she finished swiping her arms again. He roadhouse kicked Robin in the back of the head, knocking into Cyborg who had just been about to smash his head in with both fists, plowing them both back. He smirked and moved his head to the side to dodge Sin's sword thrust and grabbed the blade and twirled around, yanking the sword out of his hand again and throwing the weapon aside.

"Not much good with that sword, are you?" Brother Blood jeered.

Sin grinned wickedly. "Guess again." His glowing eyes were Blood's only warning.

The sword he had discarded came back and embedded itself in his right leg, just above his knee. Sin moved past him, pulling the sword free from his leg and spun his wrist expertly to slash at Blood's unguarded back, slicing it wide and deep. Brother Blood choked back his cry of pain and blasted Sin with a psychic wave, forcing him to fall to his back.

Brother Blood grunted as the action caused him a burst of pain. "…Y-You will pay for that."

Sin wiped some blood off the corner of his mouth as he stood back up, grinning devilishly. "Aww, are you getting tired already. _Hehehehehe_! I'm just warming up!"

Brother Blood got that impression and that made him worry. He had sustained more damage than he had expected and some of his internal systems were shutting down. He stumbled some steps away from Sin and his foot bumped the dead cyborg on the floor. Looking down, he smiled sinisterly. "I just need a little pick me up, that's all…"

Before Sin could figure out what he meant by that, Blood reached down quickly and dug his hands inside the cybernetic cadaver. The moment his hands grabbed its insides, the metal on the dead body started defragmenting and was soaked up into Blood's hands. Quickly, the damage he had received was repairing itself. Gashed metal sealed up like new and all of his systems came back online at maximum efficiency. When he pulled his hands away, all that was left of the body was a crumpled, limbless husk.

Blood chuckled evilly and flexed his hands. "Aah, that feels much better!"

Starfire came back to her sense when she witnessed what Brother Blood did to the body. Her anger replaying the deep sorrow in her and pushed Lynx, who let her, off of her and floated up to the air, starbolts charged in both hands. "You monster!"

"Looks who talking," Brother Blood countered.

His words struck Starfire like a blade and left her speechless and vulnerable. Blood took advantage of her moment of weakness and leapt up into the air and kicked her throat, almost crushing her windpipe. He landed with perfect balance and grabbed her head when she started falling to the floor and started digging his taloned fingers into her skull.

"Don't worry, Starfire…I'll put you out of your misery!" Brother Blood promised sadistically, then howled in agony when his body was suddenly electrocuted, making him lose his grip on Starfire.

Lynx let go of him and caught Starfire when he leapt under Blood's back-handed slap. He carried her off to the side and cradled her and growling savagely at Blood. Sin took that opportunity to remind Blood that he was still there and attacked him with another wave of his Crimson Laceration. Blood sensed the attack and leapt out of the path of the energy blades. He flipped in the air and landed with perfect grace and crutched low and sprung at Sin, knocking his sword out of his way and punching him in his stomach. He punched him in the side of the head with his other fist and back stepped one and roadhouse kicked him on the other side of his head. When both his feet touched the floor, he planted them firmly and leaning on the ball of his feet and lunged at him and struck him with his left open palm at his sternum, breaking it again and crushing his entire ribcage. Not stopping there, Blood struck with his right palm at his face, delighted at the sound of cracking bone.

Sin was too disoriented with his speed and the pain to try and defend himself and Blood would not give him any time in to repair. Blood swiped at him with his talons, slicing his left arm off at the elbow, then going swiped back in an arch pattern and severing his right leg. Sin collapsed to the floor to join his severed limbs and the pool of blood staining around him.

"Pathetic creature," Brother Blood stated coldheartedly. "You are a breed that should have been wiped out a long time ago."

Even in the state he was in, Sin met his cold gaze with a look of insanity. "You are _seriously_ underestimating the powers of a Nosferatu!"

Darkness began to crawl like tentacles from nearby shadows in the room, snaking up and melting into the pool of blood. The blood turned black and the two dismembered limbs started to dissolve into that blackness, disappearing in it and creeping up around Sin's mangled body. The darkness that once was his blood and limbs moved up and dug itself into his bleeding stumps and the flow of blood instantly stopped. It pushed him up off the floor and the darkness reformed into his severed limbs and healed his ruined ribcage.

Now it was Brother Blood who was horrified by the quick recovery. "…Impossible."

"You might be used to fighting metas and lower-level Nosferatu, but I'm an entirely different league, bitch!" Sin growled, smiling evilly. "You were foolish to fight a true Nosferatu at night…but fighting a true Nosferatu who happens to be a _Shadowmancer_ is just plain suicidal!"

"Shadowmancer?" Brother Blood repeated, perplexed. ""What is that?"

"I'll show you!" Sin said with a maniacal tone, his eyes widening freakishly and blackness oozed out from around them and the world turned black.

All light, all color, all everything, was wiped out of existence in the darkness that enveloped the common room. The only thing clinging to the real world were the red eyes gazing madly at Brother Blood and a Cheshire smile flashed under them. The smile gaped open and laughter erupted from behind the teeth of the smile, filling the silent void with thunderous noise. Brother Blood tried covering his ears to block out the madding sound that pounded on his eardrums, threatening to make them rupture at any second. Blood roared fruitlessly in the void he found himself in, his cry muffled by the crackling laughter echoing in the darkness.

" _ **Can you stand at the edge of the abyss and stare at its bottomless depths, Brother Blood?**_ " Sin taunted, his voice booming like his laughter.

Brother Blood glared menacingly at the eyes, reaching out and blasted the face with a psychic burst, but it dispersed in the darkness before it touched his face.

" _ **How does it feel, Blood? How does it feel to be so vulnerable?**_ " Sin snickered wickedly, his eyes and smile starting to circle around Brother Blood. " _ **How do you like feeling as helpless as all the innocent victims you've lured into your trap and forged into your killing machines? How far the mighty crumple! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**_ "

"Shut up!" Brother Blood roared, or tried to in that darkness. "You won't defeat me, leech! I am Brother Blood! Do you hear me! I am Brother Bloooooood!" His eyes glowed blood like Sin's and he locked his eyes on the rotating eyes circling. On contact, the eyes stopped and Brother Blood poured all his mental powers into those eyes, cracking the impenetrable, or now not-so-impenetrable, fortress behind those eyes that gave way to the mind.

Sin was unprepared for the massive mental assault Brother Blood drilled at him, his defenses slipping and crumpling faster than he could put them back up. His mental probe dug through his mind like a flaming spear, trying to bury itself deep in his mind and alight all his secrets, all his thoughts in what he found to be a complete pitch black world. The darkness fought to remain where it clung when he commanded it to draw back, denying light where it was un-welcomed and foreign. Blood drilled deeper, taking satisfaction from Sin's screams as he thought the pain his mental probe caused, looking for some memory, some weakness he could use against him. He soon found an old and not-too-recent memory in the darkness, glowing and glittering white like moonlight. He smiled cruelly and started pulling Sin into this memory, tying him down into it with mental links like they were strings and he was tying a serious of knots around this shining memory. Sin fought him the whole time, with every yank and pull Blood gave, he resisted him with all he had, but it was proved futile against the mentalist.

Tying the last mental knot, the darkness around him disappeared and he was back in the world of light and life. He slowly stood up and smiled for all to see as he looked at Sin. Sin was stumbling about, his eyes looking around but they weren't registering anything and he collapsed on his back with a smile of purest bliss on his face. He laid there like that and wasn't moving a muscle.

"Sin!" Raven cried, running over to his side and kneeling down to him. She stared down at his eyes and saw them slightly shifting back and forth, as if he were dreaming with open eyes. She glared at Brother Blood, a hint of redness in her eyes. "What did you do to him?!"

Brother Blood grunted at her, folding his arms behind him. "Nothing much. I simply trapped him in his own mind. It was very simple now that I look back at it. Heh, he had no chance against my superior mental prowess." He let himself bask in his own glory and started walking toward her and Sin. "And now, I'm going to dispose of him and you and everyone else!"

Robin flashed into view between him and Raven and Sin with his Bo Staff extended and blades out. "You touch either one of them and I will kill you!"

Brother Blood smirked mirthlessly at him. "Hah! You, kill me? That's a laugh. You cannot kill me, Robin. You still cling to your old morals and are still too weak of mind and heart to take a life."

Robin's eye flared. "You'll find much of my morals have changed, Blood."

"Humph, we will see," Brother Blood growled back, unfolding his arms. "

Before Blood could do anything, he heard a buzzing sound around his head and panicked, thinking it was Bumblebee, the other traitor he so hated and was planning on targeting next. He felt something touch his cheek and faster than he eye could see, he slapped his cheek and was satisfied when something crunched under his blow and warm fluid began sliding down his cheek. He drew his hand back to admire his kill, then stared in bewilderment when he saw that it wasn't the crushed body of Bumblebee, but rather a real insect, a hornet from the looks of it. The hornet had a crimson colored exoskeleton and from he could vaguely make out on its damage body, a black line running straight down its back. It had black antennas and six black jointed legs, the bent wing it used to have had been once blade shaped. Strangely, there was a lot of red blood leaking out if the dead insect's body. He touched his cheek with his other hand and found it was sticky with red blood and more was coming down.

He felt around and hissed when he touched a tiny puncture in his skin that was leaking out blood. He crushed the strange bug again in his hand and let what was left of its body fall his hand. Just then, the air around him began buzzing heavily. He looked behind and him and was greeted by a swarm of those red hornets.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," Hornet said, appeared out of the swarm, or they moved around him as he walked up to be visible to Blood. "They're sensitive to movement and heat….body heat."

"What are these disgusting little pests?" Brother Blood demanded, eyeing Hornet viciously.

Hornet narrowed his eyes but no one could see it because of his glasses. "Be very careful what to say, human. These Siphon Hornets are my friends."

"Siphon Hornets?" Brother Blood tried the word.

"Yes, and as their name suggest, they siphon…and what they siphon is blood. These hornets have very unique stingers. Instead of stabbing something and inject poison into a living thing, they have a siphon needle that sucked out the blood like a mosquito. And, unlike when a regular hornet might die because it loses its stinger, a Siphon Hornet is able to re-grow his back." He raised a hand and a finger and one of the red hornets landed on it and fluttered its wings. "Just one of these little fellas aren't really a threat to anyone, except to something smaller or the same size as it. But a whole swarm of them can drain an entire livestock of cows in mere minutes. Now imagine what they could do to one human."

Brother Blood snarled at him, his eyes glowing red. "You can't scare me with these pests. I will destroy you along with everyone here."

Hornet waved the finger the insect was resting on at him. "I don't think so. Even you still need some blood to keep your remaining organs and flesh alive. They will be on you and draining you dry before you could ever lay a finger on me." As if to make his threat clear, all the hornets buzzed louder and moved in closer. "This is just not you night, human."

Now it was Brother Blood's turn to wag a finger at him. "I will return and claim this tower for my own. They owe me for ruining all my old bases. And when I return, you all will perish." His body was surrounded by dark red energy and he vanished from sight.

"Crap, he can teleport," Hornet groaned with great annoyance, lifting his finger to make the hornet fly off, then crossed his arms over his chest.

When the one hornet flew up into the air, all the hornets buzzed over to Hornet and landed on him and started crawling inside his huge coat and soon the buzzing stopped when the last hornet disappeared down his sleeve.

"Dude! How do you stand those things being under your jacket?" Beast Boy said, visibly shivering at the thought.

"They don't live under his jacket, elf-boy," Jesse said, as she entered the common room with Grimm and Freya behind her. "Those lil' critters live in his body."

"That's creepy…" Beast Boy quivered, shaking even more and staring at him.

Hornet grunted his irritation and looked to the side, which happened to be the direction that Sin was lying on the floor. He walked over to him as did Grimm. The blade-wielder frown disgustedly at Sin and rested his hands on his hips.

"That fool," Grimm said bluntly. "He let a human mentalist reduce him to a vegetable."

Raven snapped her eyes up at him. "Brother Blood isn't a normal mentalist. I doubt he's even human anymore."

Grimm grunted at her and kicked Sin in the face with his boot. The grinning Nosferatu hadn't responded in the slightest to that.

Robin glared at Grimm with a look that promised pain. "Hey!"

Grimm ignored the look. "He's useless to us now. Just a mindless sack of shit now." He drew his sickles. "Better to put him out of his misery."

Robin shot an arm over Sin protectively. "Don't you dare, Grimm…" Raven did the same with her arm.

Grimm smirked at their futility and started moving his hands, when Hornet grabbed the back of his neck. The move froze Grimm where he was stand, his sickles unmoving in his hands. Hornet didn't have a tight grip on his neck, but the action was enough.

"Back off, Grimm," Hornet warned.

Grimm shook his hand off with a shake of his shoulders. "Do not presume to tell me to back off, Hornet. Sin is of no use to anyone now. And as that is the case, leadership of his mission falls to me."

Freya moved to Sin's side and touched his forehead and gazed at his eyes for a moment, and then she looked up at Robin. "Not mindless…just lost."

"Lost? Lost where?" Robin asked her.

She lowered her head to Sin. "Lost in past times."

"Blood said he trapped him inside his mind," Raven informed them, looking into his glazed eyes again and frowning. Even with things so bad right now, she couldn't help but think he looked so happy. It was a lie, though, a trick of Brother Blood's. Everything he did was false. Her belt began to hum with power as her rage rose. "…He is going to pay for what he did." She sat down next to Sin and crossed her legs and placed her hands so on her lap as she would when she meditated.

"Whatcha doin', gal?" Jesse asked, tilting back her hat and scratching the side of her forehead.

"I'm going to enter Sin's mind and fix the damage that Blood created," Raven replied.

"Humph," Grimm grunted. "It's of no concern anymore. There is no way to aid Sin, and as there is a new threat to the half-breed we must take her to HQ where she will be more secured."

The sound of energy humming caught his ears. He turned around and gazed at Cyborg, who had his Cannon charged at his side. "You ain't taking Raven no where from us to just be locked up somewhere."

Grimm snarled at him. "There's no other way." He started reaching down to grab Raven. "We're taking her with us and that is my order and it will be carried out."

The air was alive with hornets and all of them landed on Grimm, forcing him to stop in his tracks when he felt their needled stingers press against his skin and through the material of his clothes. He dared to look over his shoulder at Hornet.

"Get them off me, Hornet, now," Grimm ordered.

"Sorry, Grimm, but that's not going to happen," Hornet replied casually.

"This is an order. Get them off me, now!" Grimm growled.

Hornet stared at him blankly. "I'm not going to let you take her back and to be honest I'm not planning on going back ever." This shocked Grimm and his female teammates.

"Hornet, why ya saying that?" Jesse asked.

"Because I'm tired of being one of the Council's dogs…and I'm even more tired of following you around, Grimm. I gave you a chance when you were put in charge, but you mucked it up, badly, with that ego of yours," Hornet said. "And I don't plan on abandoning Sin when he's saved my life, and all of ours, more times than I remember. Now it's our turn to do whatever we can to help him." He turned his head to look at Raven. "You do what you can for him, Raven. I'll keep you safe while you do."

She smiled at him gratefully.

"Right, well, I'm gonna go find that human and kick his little ass then pump him full 'a lead," Jesse proclaimed, drawing out one of her six-shooters and placed the barrel under Grimm's chin. "And I'm taking dog-shit here with me, and Freya, too."

Freya nodded and stood up and walked over to her side. Jesse tilted her hat back in place. "Oy, Hornet. Draw off the bugs, would ya? I'll keep sickle head here from doin' anythin' dumb."

Hornet waved a hand and all the hornets flew off of Grimm. Jesse then led him out of the common room at gun point and probably did so all the way out of the Tower. Freya remained behind and turned to Robin.

"We're coming, too," Robin said.

"Yeah, we gotta make Brother Blood pay for what he did, and he's our problem," Cyborg added, punching a fist in his hand.

Freya gazed at Robin wordlessly with her wide eyes, starting to unnerve him, then nodded and touched his arm. He regarded her hand touching his arm and looked up at her in puzzlement.

Hornet chuckled some. "That's her way of saying she'll help you all she can."

Robin smiled at her. "Thank you, Freya."

The elf looked down and a faint smile showed itself on her face, then started walking out to check up with Jesse. Robin watched her leave with a look of wonderment, then shrugged mentally, then stopped and moved to Starfire. "…Are you going to be all right, Star?"

"Yes…" Starfire replied. "I must do what I can to help those people that Brother Blood tricked…I must."

Robin understood what she really meant and refrained from voicing it. He glanced over at Hornet. "I'm trusting you to protect what's precious to me, Hornet. Do everything you can to keep them safe."

"I will do that and more," Hornet said, sounding more liked a vow than anything.

"Thank you…All right, Titans, we're going to hunt down Brother Blood," Robin said, then his eyes flared angrily. "…And make him pay for what he's done. Titans! Move out!"

He headed out with Cyborg and Beast Boy behind him. Starfire followed them hesitantly, looking back over her shoulder at the husk that Brother Blood drained. Lynx snuck up on her other side and wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Whatever happens, Star…I'll do everything to help you…I promise," Lynx vowed.

"Lynx…I…" he shushed her before she could say any more.

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Star…you don't have to say a thing," Lynx said, hugging her waist.

"Thank you…" Starfire whispered, a tear falling from her eye.

They quickly hurried to join everyone who left.

Hornet kneeled down next to Sin. "What do you want me to do, Raven?"

"Just keep anything from getting to me or interfering…I'm going to literally be helpless while I'm inside Sin's mindscape," Raven said.

The hornets hovering about circled them and formed a barrier around them. "Nothing is going to get past me."

"Thank you, Hornet," Raven said with full gratitude.

He shrugged it off. "Just get Sin back."

She nodded in agreement and closed her eyes and spoke her mantra. Her soulself flew out of her body and dived down into Sin's body. It was like traveling down an unlit subway tunnel. There was no light or sign of anything in the pitch black darkness in his mind when she appeared inside it. She looked around in hopes for a source, walking randomly for anything that could give her a hint as to where she was. She was beginning to wonder if she would ever find anything in this darkness, when it suddenly drew back, like a black veil being drawn away. With the darkness all gone, Raven found herself somewhere very different, and when she looked around at her surroundings…she screamed.

A/N: Very mean of me to end this with a cliffy, very mean of me, but the next chapter will be worth it, trust me on this. I'll have the next installment as fast as I can work on it. And as I've said before, please leave a review to help inspire me to work more on the next chapter if you really wish to know what will happen next, thank you.

Side Note: This is for anyone who is interested, but currently I've become an administrator a good friend who operates a website called "The Third Party Formal". For those of you who wish to know, it is an RPG and Debate site, where people can either RP based off their favorite themes: For example, vampires or werewolves. Other kinds are allowed and welcomed, greatly. If anyone wishes for more information, please leave a PM and I will contact you as fast as I can, or visit the site yourself. The link is on my profile if you do so desire to look at it. And so you are aware, I have posted some of my work on there, some new and some I've posted on here, if you wish to read it, then I suggest to do indeed give the site a visit, thank you.


	27. Chapter 27

Disclaimer: I don't own or claim and rights to Teen Titans. They are the rightful property of Cartoon Network and DC Comics. Rightful, and only claim, is to the plot and the following OCs: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, Grimm, Freya, Hornet, Jesse, and Ruby. Desdemona Aimee Graves belongs solely to Grave_of_Desdemona.

A/N: When I first started this fanfic, I never would have imagined how many people would come to love it. I thought "Teen Titans: Inferno" would have been my big hit, but I'm happy to see that one is liked too. But now, I've reached my 1000 marker in reviews and that it's a momentous thing for me. As such, I think something special should be done in honor of reaching that marker. So I'm going to ask you, my readers, to leave one request in your next reviews to ask me what you really wish to see happen in Scarlet Embrace. Yes, that's right. I'm giving you the choice to decide the fate of this fanfic. Only thing I ask is keep the requests realistic, but otherwise anything goes, also: I do plan on Raven embracing Sin's dark gift, so please ask for something else; I'm already working on that one for everyone that's been waiting.

News on the future, I will be doing a sequel to Scarlet Embrace, so if I don't use some of your ideas in this one, then I'll be sure to have them added to the next one…and the third sequel that will follow.

Now then. Hmm, so Sin has finally been defeated, proving he's not completely invincible. And the Titans are fighting Brother Blood again along with his army of cyborgs. The City is in more turmoil…and Raven is in Sin's Mindscape in attempt to cure him, but what awaits her inside his mind? What horrors are lurking in his memories and how will she save him from himself? All this and more is about to be unleashed…

 **Cerebral Horrors**

Raven screams echoed through the place she found herself in. Her mind was trying to make sense to what her eyes were telling her. Her heart pounded in horror in her chest. She was in a nightmare…The ground was stained with blood oozing out of cracks in the ground made of something that couldn't possibly be called rock or earth. She dreaded even thinking about the substance that she was standing on. What she could make out of it was that it was black and as hard as stone, but had a softness to it that made her wonder otherwise. There were trees around her. Trees made of bones and tendons and muscles. The branches were limbs of arms and legs and moving about in the air, as if trying to grab a hold or hit something. Skulls were embedded in the trunk of them; a few had red eyeballs gazing at nothing and everything around them. Some of those eyes were staring at Raven.

There were other things that could be called plants. Large twisted vines that looked scaly spiraled up from the ground and had thorns that resembled fangs and were dripping with some dangerous substances. If Raven had to guess, she beat it was poison leaking from those things. The sky, or what made up the sky in this place, was rolling with red clouds and thundering loudly to warn of rain coming. She feared what those cloud might let fall down on her as everything looked deadly. It might be a good idea to get moving before she found out the hard way.

Raven levitated above the gory _forest_ floor and made a point to keep out of reach of the nightmarish trees and pretty much everything else. _'Is this really Sin's mind? It's…so horrifying.'_

She traveled through the freakish forest and came to a river that was filled with blood, seeing monstrous things actually swimming in it and looking very vicious. They were hard to make out as they dived back under the blood, but Raven could make out they were long bodied like snakes and as if she hadn't had enough hints from the familiar she's seen Sin use, she'd win a beat that they were really snakes swimming in that river. She thought to fly higher, way above the forest when she heard things growling around her, catching a view fleeting shadows that hid from her sight. Not wishing to tackle with whatever it was stalking her, she rose high away into the red sky and scanned the terrain in search of anything that might give her a clue.

Now in the sky, her eyes surveyed the land and saw the odd forest stretched out for miles on with rivers of blood cutting through it and leading to who knows where. Figuring any direction was better than none; she headed in the direction she believed to be north and traveled for some time. Her frustration was becoming apparent when she frowned more and more as time past. This was taking longer than she had hoped, but this mind wasn't like anything she's ever encountered. It was much more vast and chaotic than any mind she's touched. Somehow, she sensed it had a sense of balance to it, even though she couldn't even begin to guess for what purpose. Then again, she was in a Nosferatu's mind, one who has gone through much turmoil over the centuries, so it shouldn't have been the shocker it was to her. She just hoped that if they got through this that she might be able to help Sin as his mind clearly showed signs of madness and that fragile balance she sensed was crumpling. Lost in thought, she hadn't noticed that she was now flying over a normal forest. The trees looked average and green and the land underneath the growth was real soil.

Finding this odd and a relief, she started floated down when something compelled her turn around. Looking back, she saw that the green forest margined into the disgusting one she had left…and it was consuming the green forest. The once pure trees were being infected somehow by the black substance that made up the grotesque forests' flooring and warping them into the hellish ones.

"This is terrible," Raven gasped silently to herself. "What is causing all this?"

"…Sin's horrors," a meek little voice spoke next to her.

Raven nearly had a heart attack and jerked away in the air, turning to the owner of that voice. It was a little boy with angelic wings…or what may have looked like them at one time. They were black as night and missing rows of feathers and they looked like they were bleeding! He had messy black hair that fell over his face, hiding it most of it from her view. He was skinny as a pole and pale as ivory and he was shirtless. The only article of clothing he was wearing was a stained and dirty pair of trouser and he had chain shackles on his wrist and ankles, the chains on them were broken, but the areas under his shackles were bruised badly and bleeding some.

Reacting out of instinct, Raven reached out to him. The little boy floated away from her hand and looked to the side. "It's okay, I won't hurt you."

The boy looked back at her, as if not believing her. "…That what they said…the others…they say the exact same thing and I get hurt anyway…"

Raven frowned sadly. "I don't know who these others are, but I'm not like them. I'm here to help."

"Really?" the little boy uttered, tilting his head some, he picked at his the shackle on his left wrist, as if pondering over something, then he started flapping his ruined wings excitedly. "Yes! I know you! You're the Kind One!"

"Kind One?" Raven repeated with a confused look in her eyes.

"Yes!" the little boy said happily. "…But you in the meadow, why are you here, too?"

"Meadow? Wait, I don't understand what you're saying. You mean there are two of me here?" Raven asked him.

The boy looked very confused himself, then he looked to the west. "…No, she's still there, with him…" he turned his messy haired head back to her. "But you're here, too…how can there be two of you? I know! I take you to the Meadow, then you two will be where you need to be!" He glanced down at the changing forest. "This not a nice place for you, Kind One. This is bad place…"

"Why is it like this?" Raven asked.

The little boy floated nervously, glancing around and crossing his legs under him. "Shade makes it so…"

"Shade? Who is this Shade?" Raven questioned.

"Bad thing…Dark thing!" the little boy whimpered in fright. "He makes it like this! He makes forest turn dangerous when Little One loses control."

"Little One…is that you? Is your name Little One?" Raven asked.

"I don't have name…I just am but everyone calls me that…yes, I'm Little One," the boy replied.

Raven wondered what purpose he had. Obviously he was a representation of something of Sin's…maybe he was the last shred of his humanity, his innocence. "Could you fix this place if I help Sin?"

"Yes! I'm good at fixing things! I'm really good at that!" Little One beamed, flying around her happily. "I know how to find what's lost when things are wishing to be hidden. I can do it!" His eagerness faded away from his face. "…But not with Shade holding control…Bad thing likes to break what I fix…"

Raven wondered what the Shade creature at he kept referring to. Whatever he was, he sounded like someone to avoid for the time being. Her curiosity was getting the better of her though.

"Can you tell me more about this Shade?" Raven asked the little boy.

Little One started picking at his shackles again. "…He's very mean."

Raven looked at his shackles and was bothered to see them on him. The more he picked at them the more blood she saw running from his wrist. "Please, stop that…" She reached out and stopped his hand. He froze when her hand touched him, looking very much afraid. This bothered her more. "You don't like to be touched, do you?"

"…Feel pain whenever someone touches me," Little One whispered. "End up with more cuts and bruises…all the time."

Raven smiled sadly at him, feeling very mournful of this little boy's experience. "Here…I'll show you that not all touch is painful." She grasped his shackles and with her powers, she removed them, shocking the boy.

"You…got them off me?!" Little One exclaimed in awe.

"Wasn't really that hard," Raven smiled at him.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" Little One said so very happily. "They're off! They're off! They're off!"

Raven found herself smiling at him, then she took his hands again. "Hold still…heh, heh! I'm not done yet." Her hands glowed and the bruises and cut marks on his wrists and ankles disappeared.

Little One gazed at his healed wrists and gazed up at her with tears on his dirty face. "…You really are the Kind One."

Raven smiled more at him. "Please, Little One, take me to where Sin is…and the other Kind One."

"I will! I will!" Little One said. "I'll take you there now! I know the way to the meadow! I can get you there safety." His cheery disposition quickly disappeared again. "…At least, if they don't realize you're here."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "And who are they? Are they like that Shade being?"

Little One tucked his legs up against his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. "Yes, yes…like him. Not as strong, but just as cruel. Sin taught them a lesson long ago, but they're free now…"

"Because Sin isn't in control now, right?" Raven deduced.

"Yes…they're usually locked up in the deepest levels, but they broke free when Sin went to the meadow. He won't leave and put them back…he doesn't want to leave," Little One said, sounding very worried.

"You can thank Brother Blood for that…I think I know now what exactly he did," Raven grimaced. "Take me there, quickly! We really don't have much time."

Little One nodded his head quickly. "Yes! Not much time! Shade will take full control if we don't fix Sin!"

"Then lead the way and hurry!" Raven said.

" _Da_!" Little One agreed, with a slight familiar accent and took off to the west with Raven quickly following behind him.

Raven hadn't a moment to wonder over the accent as Little One bolted through the sky fast. It took all she had to just to keep up with the boy and then some, and she knew that he was slowly himself down a few times to let her check, as he kept looking back at her whenever she caught up to him. Soon, they were at the edge of what she had first believed to be an endless forest, flying over a more war-torn looking landscape littered with broken weapons and skeletons of warriors long since dead and gone. She was inspecting more of the land when Little One suddenly grabbed her and forced her to land.

"What are you doing?!" Raven wondered.

Little One shushed her and lowered her a bit more gently to the ground and waved her to follow him to a giant pile of boulders. He leapt behind one of them and waved her more frantically for her to hurry, seeing that he was really scared about something. Worried, Raven quickly hid with him behind the boulder and waited for him to explain why they were hiding. When he wouldn't say anything she pressed him.

"Why are we hiding?" she whispered as quietly as she could.

"Bad ones are here!" Little One replied nervously. "…They weren't here before…They don't come here! They stay in creepy forest…"

Raven opened her mouth to say something else, but then a scream came from somewhere near their location. Cautiously, the two peeked up from behind the boulder and Raven's eyes widened in disbelief. Someone was running about on the open field, someone that Raven quickly recognized. It was Basher. The bald female Nosferatu that she saw Sin devour in his Beast form. She was running for her life like she tried to get away from Sin. Her features were bloody and her clothes were torn in various places, as if she had just come from a scuffle. Little One touched her shoulder, making her turn her head to him and he pointed to something that was chasing after Basher.

"What is that?!" Raven gasped, as the thing came clearer into view.

The thing was running on all fours, huge talons on each end of its fingers and toes were raking up the soil under it into cloud dust behind it. Its body was bulky and massively muscular, seeing them flex and contract as it ran. It had a scaled hide, plated in some places over its shoulders and chest and limbs, looking like living armor of a dragon. On its back were ridged spines that trailed from its neck down its back to the end of its huge thick tail, which was kicking up more dust behind it. Thick spines protruded out from its back and shoulders and short stubby ones decorated its elbows and jointed legs. The head, from what could be had of it, was all teeth and jaw. No eyes could be seen on the thing as the top and sides of its head were adorned with four horns like a bull's. The mouth itself was lined with rows of jagged, sharp teeth. It roared fiercely, shaking the loose soil around it.

"Little One, what is that?!" Raven asked again in fear.

"…Wrath," Little One answered with a meek tone.

"Wrath? You mean, that thing is Sin's representation of his Anger?" Raven inquired.

"No…not anger, he's not a mean as that thing," Little One whimpered. "That one of the baddies that Sin defeated…One of the demonic vampires Sin fought long ago…"

"Then why is it here…and why is Basher here, too?" Raven wondered, getting more and more confused.

"You saw Sin eat her, right?" Little One said.

"Yes, I did…he partially swallowed her whole," Raven replied, feeling sick from the memory.

Little One nodded grimly. "He consumed her body, but her mind was placed here…in his mind. It's what happens when a Nosferatu kills and eats another. They're minds are locked inside the victors until they've been…assimilated into the consciousness."

"You mean, when Sin kills another Nosferatu and 'eats' them, their minds become back of his?" Raven marveled in horror.

" _Da_ ," Little One said, looking back at the thing chasing Basher. "It's how you really kill the strong ones…why Sin ate her though, I don't know. She's not strong…he could have killed her and she'd turn to ash." He jerked a thumb at the terrified bald Nosferatu. "Must have got carried away…but this is good then."

"How is her being chased by that thing a good thing?" Raven asked wryly.

"It's not coming after us…" Little One replied.

Raven stared at him, then back at the thing chasing Basher. "…Point taken."

Basher dodged around the piles skeletal remains and rocky cover in hopes to lose the beast chasing her. The monster continued to follow her every move, keeping up right up there on her heels. So far she was able to keep away from its snapping jaws and talons, but that all changed when something leapt from the shadows from one of the piles and knocked her off her feet. The thing that got her looked as bizarre as the monster chasing her. It was humanoid for the most part and that's all the similarity to a human ended. Its torso was twisted and deformed and tree-like. The arms were long and withered liked a branch, the same for its oddly bent legs. Its head was a mass of thorny branches that fell over its permanent furious expression and behind it.

"Oh no…Envy's here, too?!" Little One whimpered more.

"Envy, Wrath?" Raven was beginning to see the connections. "Little One…are all the baddies hear named after the seven deadly sins?"

" _Da_ …why he calls himself Sin…he beat a bunch of Nosferatu that made pacts with demons…each one representing the sins of man," Little One replied, shifting nervously. "Couldn't really keep them dead…the demons kept them from dying fully…so he ate them, contained them inside him to keep them from causing any more problems…Taking a long time for Sin's mind to assimilate them, that's why they were locked up…to keep them from messing with Sin until they were overwhelmed by his psyche." He turned away from the sight and curled his legs up against him, holding his knees again. "They've beaten me many times since they were freed…tried killing me…but they can't kill me. Here, nothing can kill me…but…" he began to sniffle and tears fell from his eyes. "I still can feel pain…"

Raven reached out and pulled him into her arms, comforting him where no other had probably before. "That's all going to change, Little One. I'm gonna help Sin and he'll lock them back away forever…"

Little One nuzzled his face on her shoulder, sniffling more. "…Promise?"

Raven pet his messy hair, straightening it with her fingers and combing it back to expose his young face. With the end of her cloak, she wiped away normal tears and cleaned the grime covering his face. The winged boy smiled up at her and she was awed by how beautiful his face became when he did.

"We must hurry before…!" Little One fell silent when Basher's screams interrupted.

The two looked back to where they last saw her and cringed. Wrath was biting off her right leg, mauling it up in its crushing jaws. Envy was slithering thorny vines around her remaining limbs and they sliced into her skin and started pulling on them, stretching her out before her joints could not take the strain and were ripped from her body. Then, just as Wrath was about to eat the other limbs, another creature appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed all the limbs and leapt away from Wrath when Wrath tried to bite it. The new creature immediately started gorging itself on the limbs, munching loudly and sloppily. This one looked humanoid, too, and like Envy, that was all. Its body looked to be decomposed like that of a zombie's. Where there should have been a plain mouth was missing lips that left any to see its fanged teeth and gums. No hair was on its head, falling either falling on account there wasn't much skin covering its visible skull. Its skin was grey, patches of it were missing, exposing tendons, and rotting muscles…or did at one time. Its body was somehow being rejuvenated the more the thing ate the limbs it stole. It had rags for clothes covering its nether regions and waist, a few hanging off his legs and arms.

"Glutton! This one is our kill!" Envy shrieked in a high-pitched, annoying voice.

The zombie-thing called Glutton glared back with solid red eyes back him, continuing to munch on the limb it had in its mouth. "Mine! I hunger so badly! I need it more than you do! I've been starving worse than you have, you flimsy twig!"

Envy shrieked rage at him, added by Wrath who was mad as well at the zombie-vampire. Glutton ignored their howls and continued on feast on his meal.

"Calm down, Envy. You know he can't help himself," an empty, lazy voice said.

Another figure appeared, a woman this time, but the most emaciated woman Raven had ever seen. She looked more like a walking bag of bones than anything. She sauntered over to the freakish monsters with an uncaring attitude. Her hair was plain brown and her eyes a dull red. She was attired in a simple black robe that looked about ready to fall over her at any moment.

"Lust isn't gonna be happy with you three," the lanky woman stated blankly, blinking her eyes closed, then very slowly opened them.

Envy twirled around to face her. "I don't care! We're free from those confinements! We should make the most of what we have and take advantage while we can."

"I don't care what happens, so long as I eat!" Glutton shouted down at them, working Basher's left leg now.

Basher all the while was screaming in horrified agony, wiggling what was left of her body around on the ground like a fish on fry land. Wrath put her out of her misery and chomped down on her head, crushing it to pulp and ending her screams, but her body continued to jerk around for while then it slowed down and stopped.

The thin woman rolled her eyes lazily. "Fine, don't say I didn't warn you…"

"Warn whom?" an impatient voiced hissed.

Three new people appear, just as bizarre as the four. The one that had spoken was a tall, lithe man with no hair on his body and his mouth was too wide for any normal person. He was dressed in a medieval fashion, robes and trousers and leathered boots, and a cape that floated behind him as he approached the four. The two walking behind him was a woman and a man. The woman was dressed in a sultry black dress that revealed more flesh than it was supposed to hide. Her hair was black as the night, with skin as white as the moon, lips as red as fresh blood, and eyes a much deeper shade of blood. Red wings protruded from her back, wings like those of a bat or some demon. The man next to her was adorned in full black scaled-armor, hiding any visible features to mark his physical appearance, his armor looking like something right out of J. R. R. Tolkien's worst nightmare.

"What are you three doing?" the armored one said in a cold, arrogant voice.

The winged woman strolled to what remained of Basher, frowning greatly in displeasure at the mess. "You fools couldn't control yourselves, could you? Now, there is nothing here to play with!"

Envy hissed at her. "Damned whore! Always thinking with your cunt, Lust!"

The winged woman flexed out her wings and her eyes glowed dangerously. "Be wary of your words, Envy…"

"It matters not anyway," the armored on growled. "The bounty is spoiled, as was the fun in chasing her, but I agree with Lust. You fools could have kept her alive until we all had our share of fun and fulfill our needs."

Glutton growled at him. "I won't have my food ruined by you, Pride! You have left her with barely any meat on her bones to munch on!"

Pride glared up at the disgusting ghoulish thing. "As you would have simply eaten all of her and left nothing for your comrades."

"I hunger!" the ghoul shouted at him, as if that answered all.

"We all hunger!" the hairless man hissed, raising a hand up and opening his palm to reveal gaping mouths with teeth snapping in irritation. "You think you are the only one that has a painful need. I wanted her blood, Glutton! I wanted to drain her before you ate her! I wanted her before all of you!"

"Be still, Greed," Pride ordered. "We will find more ways to satisfy our needs. Now that Sin has been weakened, it will be just a matter of moments I take control of his body and…"

"You!" Greed turned around on him with vicious eyes. "Who agreed to let you do that?!"

"I did," Pride stated. "I am the best choice to take over. All of you would put your desires before anything else and none of us would be freed from this placed mind!"

Envy howled and stalked over to him. "You just want Sin's body for yourself. You won't care to find us ways to get out! You'll leave us in here to fade away and use our powers for yourself. Admit it, Pride!"

They all broke out in an argument over who was going to take control of Sin's body. Little One tugged on Raven's sleeve and motioned her silently to follow him. Nodding, she let him lead her away from the horrible creatures that were fighting amongst themselves, glad to be away from such vile beings. Little One and Raven moved on foot for some time before he said it was safe to fly again. How he knew it was safe was a puzzlement to Raven, but then again, he was part of Sin, so he'd know these things. Up in the air again, Raven and Little One made their way across the war-torn battlefield and soon were flying over green fields and another forest soon after that. They came upon a clearing where a huge old willow tree rested by a glittering pond, looking pure and crystalline from Raven's point of view in the sky. Little One started descending down to the clearing, Raven trailed down with him and they touched ground on soft green grass that danced as a soft breeze blew through the clearing. Raven turned to the willow and immediately recognized it as the willow she saw before in Sin's mind. Every detail was the same, from the thin, stringy branches hanging over the main trunk, rich with deep green shrubs and full with catkins dangling out to the wind under a bright full moon. The moonlight beamed down over the meadow, lighting it with an angelic glow to it and making the pond look so crystalline. Somehow, seeing the place awoke something inside Raven that she wasn't aware had of having: Longing. Something about this place made her feel at home and so very familiar to her. It was like she had been lost for so long and how she found where she belonged, this meadow…this paradise. Something fell down her face and she reached up to touch whatever it was that was falling down her face. Her fingers were greeted with a wetness and it was than that she realized that she was crying. Little One looked up at her crying face and tilted his head in wonder.

"Why are you crying?" Little One asked. "Are you sad?"

"No…" Raven wept. "I'm crying because…I don't know why, but being in this place…I feel so happy that it's making me cry."

Little One looked up at her with confusion clearly written on his face. Not understanding why being happy would make her cry, thinking it a weird thing to do. "You should be smiling instead of crying…tears don't suit your face…" He gazed down with a hint of redness on his pale face.

Raven smiled for him. Just for him. "Thank you for bringing me here, Little One…"

Little One smiled back up at her brightly. "I'm glad I was of some help."

"You were a great help," Raven reassured him.

Little One smiled more and then his eyes shifted to the side of the pond. Raven turned her head to the direction he was staring at and gasped. Standing by the pond, bared-footed and shirtless, was Sin, looking calm and smiling out at the pond. Raven ran over to him and embraced him.

"Sin! I'm so glad I found you! I thought I lost you to Blood," Raven said in great relief.

Sin turned and gazed down at Raven with a puzzled look on his face. "Who are you?"

Raven was startled by the question that she jerked her face up this confused and stared at him. "Sin? Don't you remember me?" The thought that he had forgotten placed a heavy ball in her chest, threatening to send her crashing down to the ground. "…It's me, Raven."

The stared blankly at her for another moment, then recognition shined in his eyes. "Oh, Raven! Of course, I'm sorry…I seemed to have forgotten for a moment."

That made her feel better and she hugged him again. "Good…I was worried that you…"

He pulled her away from him at arms length so she could see him smiling at her. "Forget you? Never, why would I want to forget you, Raven?"

"There isn't time to explain, Sin. We have to go," Raven said, and started pulling him away from the pond, but he stopped her.

"Go? Why should we go anywhere?" Sin asked her. "We're home? Why leave it?"

Raven turned her gaze back to him. "Because place isn't real, Sin. It's just a trick that Brother Blood has done to keep you trapped…This place is fake."

Sin pulled away from her hands. "Fake…That can't be?! Look around, Raven…This place is real!"

"No…" Raven said sadly, understanding how hard it was going to be for him. "It's not, Sin…It's just a memory."

"But Cynthia is here!" Sin proclaimed, pointing out to the pond.

Raven looked out into the pond and her eyes widened. There, swimming in the pond with just a white dress on, was Cynthia. Her brunette hair gliding on the surface of the water and sparkling with moonlight like the pond. She turned those deep green eyes and Raven thought she was looking at herself for a moment…what she longed to be if she ever was normal…

She shook her head furiously and turned to Sin. "She isn't really there, Sin!"

Sin frowned at her. "How can you say that, Raven? She's right there!"

Raven grabbed his arms and tugged on them. "Please, Sin. Realize it! Cynthia died a long time ago, remember, there's no way she could be here now!"

"Died?!" Sin uttered with a tone that clearly sounded he wasn't believing her. "That's absurd, Raven. I've been with her all day, swimming, talking her Raven! How could it…?!"

Raven gripped his arms tightly, trying to shake him. "Because it's all in your head!"

"What…?" Sin stared at her in further confusion.

"Brother Blood trapped you in your own mind, Sin!" Raven screamed in frustration at him, crying as she readied herself for what she was about to do. "…Please…please forgive me, Sin."

With a hand, she raised it up to his face, saying her mantra, and her hand blazed with black energy. Sin was not prepared for what happened next. His eyes suddenly glowed the same color as her hand and the links that Brother Blood had linked were rapidly being untied, forcing back memories hidden from him by the ego maniac. As they did, he screamed…

He screamed as it felt like his head was on fire and every knot that was undone was like someone stabbing his brain with silver blades. The links of his mind repaired themselves…and as they did, Sin's world became undone. He yanked himself away from Raven, pushing her without thinking back. Little One caught her and the two stared as Sin howled in pain, clutching his head, digging his nails into his scalp to the point blood was pouring freely down his face and neck.

"Sin, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry!" Raven cried, clinging to Little One.

The links finally began to settle and the pain eased back some. Sin gazed back out at the lake, desperately looking for Cynthia and found her no longer swimming in the pond. He looked around frantically and shouting her name. "Cynthia! Please, where'd you go?!" He whipped his head around and as he did, the meadow melted away and all three of them were standing in a village. "No…" he wept, blood tears falling without control down his face. "…God, please, no! Not again! Please, I don't want to see this again!"

But it happened, anyway. The villagers parted enough for him to see Cynthia, her mother…and the boy she loved along with the boy's father, all standing on stools and with ropes around their necks. Raven watched the horrific scene and fear like she never had known before built up inside her; panic was raising and she unconsciously reached up to her neck and yanked at something that wasn't there. Her eyes widened more and more as the villagers screamed curses and stabbed at Cynthia with their makeshift weapons. Raven forced herself to look away and that movement forced her to stare at the mother, the father, and the boy…the boy!?

Raven stared in total disbelief at the boy. She looked upon familiar short black hair and eyes, though the color of these were azure, they were still familiar to her as was the face that looked sadly at his loved one being harmed, looking so helpless to do anything to stop them.

"No…! Not Robin!" Raven screamed and ran at the villagers, forgetting that they were just images from Sin's memory. She past through them like she were a ghost, or rather like they all were ghosts and collapsed to knees before the three about to leave this world.

"…Oh Azar!" Raven wept heavily now.

As it all played out, she saw images in her own mind, images of the villagers around her, cursing her, stabbing her and beating on her…and desperate hope to be saved, for someone to come and save her from these people before her life was sniffed out. Then before her and in her mind, she saw one of he villagers get behind the boy's father and kicked his stool out from under his feet, letting him fall on the rope and snapping his neck. The villager got behind the boy, who simply continued staring at Cynthia, even when the rope stole his life away when he fell, and then he got behind her mother and the villager did the same thing to her. So much sadness was welling up inside her from the sight and loss now choking her heart, seeing those close to her die right in front of her. Then the villager moved behind her and as he did, that hollow hope to be saved returned to her, pleading for someone, someone even closer to her to come and save her, but it was too late. The villager kicked her stool out from under her and pain squeezed around her neck. Her neck hadn't snapped from the fall, she just choked as her own weight pulled her down on the rope, slowly stealing life from her body. As she hanged there, she began to feel a calm growing in her…she saw a figure appear out of the darkness behind all the villagers and that hope sparked one last time, so glad to see her spirit…her beloved…

And Raven was lost in the sorrow as she experienced Cynthia's death, feeling it as her own, but well aware that she was still alive herself. Falling into a heap on the ground and clawing at the loose soil as the memory slowly began to fade and her thoughts were her own. Someone was wrapping their arms around her and she looked up to see Little One trying to raise her up and hug her. She clung to him and buried her face against his hard chest…wait, hard?

She gazed up at him and gasped when she saw that Little One was no longer a little boy. He looked in his teenage years now, looking about the same age as when she first joined the Titans. He smiled sadly at her with tears of his own visible on his face; his wings had more feathers on them and weren't bleeding anymore.

"…You need to leave, Raven," a slightly matured voice came out of Little One. "They know you're here and are coming for you."

"Them?! You mean those creatures we ran into?" Raven surmised, feeling panic rise in her again.

"Yes, they know Sin is almost about to get a grip on himself. They'll try to suppress him before he locks them away again and they'll kill you in the process," Little One stated.

"I can't leave yet, Little One…Sin, oh Azar, what's happened to Sin?!" Raven uttered, looking around for him. Little One's wings were around her, blocking her view. "What are you doing?! I have to found Sin!"

"No…you don't want to see what's happening, Raven," Little One whispered sadly. "You've seen enough, you don't want to see what came after her death…"

Raven thought to herself that, yes, she did want to see what happened next. She wanted to see the blasted villagers that took everything away from Cynthia…no, from her. Her anger demanded to see satisfaction that they all paid, but no matter how much she struggled to get out of Little One's wings, she couldn't get past the wall of black feathers. Her struggling ceased when screams began to fill the air around her. She heard men shouting in horror as something ripped into them and woman crying for God just as their voices were halted when a wet, sickly noise cut erupted from them…and she heard children; although they made the barest of noises over the dying adults, she heard them the clearest when their crying was cut off quickly as something growling and snarling found them. Raven was clinging to Little One again, now grateful that she wasn't baring witness to the massacre going on around her. Those sounds were enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life…it would have been worse if she saw it all.

Little One gripped her tightly quickly, jerking her out of her state, and he picked her up and started backing away. "Don't come near her!" he growled.

"Little One? What are you doing here?" Pride's voice rose up. "…And you've grown. What has happened you little piece of shit, tell me, now!"

Little One snarled at him and spat rapidly word in a foreign language. Raven wasn't exactly sure what he said, but she could guess from the tone he used and the reply that came from Pride.

"You insolent like bastard!" Pride roared.

"Let me have him, Pride! I wanna chew on his marrow, please! Please let me have him!" Glutton pleaded frantically.

"NO! He's too handsome now to be ruined!" Lust spoke up. "Mmm, he will make for such good fun now…still young but not so innocent anymore…" Raven could have sworn she saw in her head the demon woman licking her lips.

"Do whatever you want to that little brat…I want to know what he's hiding in his wings from us," Greed snapped.

She heard footsteps and Little One jumped away from them. "Keep away from her!"

"A her!?" Envy hissed. "You've had a little bitch this whole time and you dare keep her from us!"

Knowing it was futile to hide her now, Little One opened his wings to let Raven see the group of demonic vampires standing six feet from them.

"Ah! She's a beautiful one, she is!" Lust purred huskily. "I want her, Pride…I want to touch that lovely hair…those legs…those…"

"Enough!" Pride snapped at her. "First we contain Sin, then we'll deal with this brat and his bitch."

Little One snarled at them. But then, what bravery he had been able to summon was gone. Raven could feel it ooze out of him as fear, tremendous fear, replaced that courage. "Little One, what's wrong?"

"H-He's here…The Shade!" Little One whimpered, hugging Raven tighter to him and backing up some more.

When he said that, the seven demons all looked frightened.

"The Shade! No! He will ruin everything!" Greed shouted, jerking his bald head in every direction he could to find the so-feared being.

"Quickly! We must get to Sin, now!" Pride ordered.

" _ **Too late, you foolsssss….**_ " an aged, evil voice spoke.

The demons all stopped and gazed at a pool of darkness rising up from the ground and a tall figure emerged from it. He wore robes made from that darkness and a hood that hid his face in more darkness. Hissing noises came from him as were the sound of something slithering under his robe. The dark being turned and locked glowing red eyes on Raven and Little One. She could feel those angry orbs pierce inside her soul and read everything she had to hide, her deepest secrets made bore before those intense eyes. He raised a sleeved arm and darkness flickered out from the opening of it, and it was then that Raven saw snakes slithering under that sleeve, reaching out and baring their long sharp fangs at her, it was then that she saw that those snakes were actually his fingers!

He pointed a snake-like finger at her. " _ **…You do not belong here**_."

"Please…don't do anything to her!" Little One pleaded to the Shade.

" _ **SILENCE!**_ " The Shade roared.

The demons behind him backed away in fear from his booming voice. Little One cringed against that voice and tried to keep from falling to his knees. Raven gripped his shoulder, trying to reassure him that it would all work out.

"She has invaded this place, as such, she must pay!" Greed said, trying to take advantage of the moment.

"Yes! She must pay. Let us punish her, Shade!" Envy added, looking eager now.

The Shade turned his angry gaze on the demons and the orbs narrowed. " _ **I will decide what who will be punished! No other…**_ " He moved his head back to Raven and Little One. " _ **She will be devoured by me…her powers are those of a great demon. With her powers, I will take over this mind, and use Sin's body as my new vessel for my return!**_ "

"You have no right! We have already claimed her!" Pride shouted at the dark being. "Her body, her blood, her power belong to us!"

The Shade whipped his arm out to them and snakes darted out of his sleeve and gripped all the demons, sinking their fangs in them and constricted around them. " _ **I am the one that can make any claim, not you pathetic excuses of Nosferatu…**_ "

Little One turned and broke out in a full run, carrying Raven away from the Shade as fast as he could. He'd gotten ten feet before a snake wrapped itself around his neck and started pulling him back. He struggled against the snake, even as it buried its fangs in him and choked him, he anyway fought to get away.

" _ **Foolish boy…you cannot save her now**_ ," The Shade stated. " _ **You never could stop me and you never will. Sin's body, his power, all that is his will be mine!**_ "

"No!" Little One screamed in defiance and the snake around his neck fell off.

The Shade howled in thunderous pain and pulled back the decapitated snake back into his sleeve. " _ **What's this?!**_ "

Raven looked over Little One's shoulder and saw Sin with his sword drawn and looking half mad. He glared at the being and the demons.

"No…no one will harm her!" Sin roared, darkness pouring from his aura.

" _ **You cannot stop me, Sin. Not now. You are weak…you cannot hold me back any longer,**_ " The Shade proclaimed, darkness growing over his own body.

Sin roared. "No one will harm her! _**NO ONE!**_ "

His form began to melt into darkness and wings made of fangs and scales ripped out of his back, splashing blood behind him as they came out. He charged at the Shade as the rest of his body was lost in shadows and emerged as the monstrous cat, pouncing on top of the Shade and burying its muzzle over its head, the snakes around its neck were fending off the snakes being produced from under the Shade's robe. Little One took that opportunity to run off with Raven to safety. She watched over his shoulder as the Sin-beast ripped into the Shade, very much afraid for him as more snakes appeared out of the thing and ripped at his hide. The snakes on the Sin-beast were barely able to fend them off as more attacked from another side.

"We have to…!" Little One shook his head. "No, Sin will be fine…his Beast will keep him safe from the Shade's influence and other seven….But Raven. When you go back, do not be anywhere near Sin!"

"What, why?!" Raven demanded.

"His Beast is in total control…I'm keeping it from physically attacking your body and Hornet…but once you leave, I'll have to go back and fix the mental damage," Little One replied.

"I can't help you with that," Raven offered.

"No, it's too dangerous now," Little One stated firmly. "You need to leave or you'll be killed and devoured by one of them…and if that happens, there will be no hopes for Sin...never."

Raven wanted to argue with him. She just couldn't leave Sin and Little One to deal with those monsters by themselves. She shouted at him to put her down and let go of her, take her back to Sin. Little One ignored her words and gripped her tighter. She stopped when something cold touched her face. She looked up above her and saw falling from the red sky…snow. White, pure snow…

"Little One…?" Raven uttered, gazing back at the winged representation.

"They say that it never snows in hell, Raven," Little One replied, knowing what she was going to ask. "This mind has always been in turmoil…but your presence in it has changed everything…You made the impossible possible, Raven…You made it snow in hell…"

Little One brought Raven to an old cabin and darted inside through the opened door. He kicked the door closed behind him and put her down on the squeaky wooden floor. Quickly looking out of the window, he saw the coast was clear for the time, then walked over to the corner of the room and flung back a rotten rug that had been covering a trapdoor beneath it. He grabbed the handle and jerked the trapdoor open, waving for Raven to hurry over to the spot.

"Where does this lead?" Raven asked, jogging over and looking down at the darkness beyond the trapdoor.

"To the basement, where you'll find your exit," Little One said. "You'll know it when you see it…"

"Wait, Little One…are you Sin's…?" a soft chuckle interrupted her.

"I'm what's left of it…yes…but I'm growing, Raven," Little One replied with a smile, looking down at his grown unchained hands. "And I have you to thank for it." His face went serious again. "But remember what I said, Raven. You cannot be anyway near Sin once you are out of here. Get whoever else is near away from him…I cannot hold him back and repair the damage at the same time…I'm not strong enough for that yet."

"I'll do my best, Little One…" Raven assured him, kneeling down to the edge of the trapdoor. She enveloped him with her arms in a tight hug. "…Be careful."

"Don't fear for me…I have nothing to fear anymore," Little One said, and without warning, he jerked her out of his arms and threw her into the trapdoor. "…Good bye…Cynthia."

Raven pummeled down darkness. She thought the fall would be short, but she never touched bottom as soon as she had anticipated. She spun, or thought she spun, down that darkness, spiraling out of control for what must have been hours, but she knew it was shorter than that. She focused on getting herself out of the spin and was soon just freefalling. Then, images appeared around her, memories she assumed floated up past her from the abyss below. In some she saw people beating on Sin when he was a child, dangling on chains in rooms or in lobbies…being made a display for royalties around him to taunt and laugh at him. She saw people dying all around him as psychotic laughter joined the screams of victims who fell from bloodied hands and swords and axes. Witnessing wars along forgotten by time and lost to history forever. Lastly, she saw a woman...who shined like the moon angelically in a memory who smiled beautifully, and for a moment Raven thought she was smiling right at her…then the woman waved a hand and Raven landed softly on stonework.

Looking around she found herself at a portal in a stone room, the portal looked exactly like Sin's weird fireplace in his private chambers. The stone dragons were present and so was the portrait of the woman who had become Sin's first love. She was astonished when the woman in the portrait turned her head down and smiled softer at her, and in her mind, she heard a soft, ethereal voice whisper to her.

'… _Go…and keep our Smiling Moon from harm…'_

"What? You mean Sin?" Raven replied in confusion to the portrait.

The voice didn't reply. In that instant, a vortex sprung to life and Raven was sucked into it…

In the real world, Hornet was beginning to get worried. Raven had been gone inside Sin's mind for a long time. To make matters worse, he hadn't heard from the others either. But just as he was about to believe that things had gone for the worse, Raven erupted out of Sin's body in her soulself and retreated back into her original body. Her eyes snapped open and she was gasping for air and nearly fell over.

Hornet caught her in time and held her steady. "Raven, are you all right?!"

"No…I mean, yes…I…forget it. We have to go, now!" Raven replied shakily.

"What? Why do we have to go?" Hornet asked her with raised eyebrows.

"Sin…he's dangerous right now…His Beast," Raven managed to get out between gasps of air.

That was all Hornet needed to know. He summoned his miniature friends back inside him and he helped Raven onto her feet. Once on her feet, Raven was able to regain her sense of balance and was breathing easily again.

"We have to hurry!" Raven warned.

The two started for the exit…but they weren't able to pass through it when an inhuman roar thundered in the room. Frightened, Raven slowly turned her head back to where Sin lay; Hornet immediately commanded his Blood Hornets back out and put up a living barrier just as some slashed at them. Raven jumped back when black claws ripped through the horde of bugs and caught a glimpse of wild red eyes. The Beast-possessed-Sin thrashed against the barrier, getting stung and drained with every bug that got in his way. It wasn't slowing him down any; much to the two's displeasure, Hornet grabbed Raven by the shoulders and started leading her back to the exit of the common room. Just as they reached it, Desdemona came strolling in, yawning her head off.

"What is with all the noise?" Desdemona groaned, rubbing her neck and stretching an arm. "A girl can't seem to get her rest in this place…..Waaaaaaah!" Hornet bolted for the exit, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her with him and Raven down the hallway. "What the fuck is your problem?!"

"Sin! He's lost it!" Hornet replied hastily.

"What…when did that happened…Man, I knew I should have gotten up earlier! I MISS EVERYTHING!" Desdemona groaned loudly.

"Less talk…more running!" Hornet barked.

Another roar ripped down the hallway, louder and with the impact of a sonic boom. It nearly knocked the three off their feet. Raven levitated off the ground and spread a kinetic shield around the three just as another roar slammed against them and sent them flying further down the hall. Raven used the force of the roar to push them faster away and crashed through a wall, and through another wall, and another until they were floating outside the tower.

Raven turned to look back at the hole. Standing there was Sin, covered from head to toe in darkness and eyes pure crimson wide with rage. He glared at the three with blind rage and hunger and lunged out at them. Raven floated them just out of his reach, darting from side to side when strands of darkness grappled out from Sin's body to reach them. He crashed to the rocky terrain below, howling madly.

"Wow…what did you guys do to piss him off so much?" Desdemona gawked down at Sin, who was now thrashing about aimlessly.

"We were attacked by an enemy called Brother Blood…he tampered with Sin's mind," Raven informed. "…I was able to repair the damage…but in order to keep him safe from others occupying his mind; his Beast took full control and is now guiding his every action."

"Whoa, one sec," Desdemona halted her. "Others? Like there's more than one person in Sin?"

"You must be talking about the Deadly Seven…I thought they'd be absorbed into Sin by now," Hornet proclaimed.

"No, they were freed when Blood messed with Sin's mind…and so was something else," Raven replied, looking down mournfully at her…at her…

She hadn't been able to finish that train of thought when Sin suddenly jerked his head in the direction of the city and snarled. "…. _ **Blllloooooodddddd!**_ "

"Oh, shit!" Desdemona squeaked. "He's about to go on a massacre!"

"No…that's not what he's going after…he's going after Blood!" Raven revealed, just as Sin disappeared into the ground in a pool of darkness. "We're going to meet up with the others. They've probably found Blood by now…and if they did…"

"Sin will be there, too…" Hornet finished the sentence for her.

Raven wasted no time with a communicator…she just knew where Sin was about to reappear. Her kinetic shield morphed into her soulself, enveloping all three and the raven-shaped astral projection zoomed to the city, fazing through buildings in a direction path to where Raven knew Sin was going to be.

Robin and the rest were battling Brother Blood and his cyborg minions out near a construction site right in the middle of the city. Blood had summoned more of his cybernetic enhanced minions to battle the Titans and the Nosferatu. Now it looked like a small war of Titans, wereleopards, cyborgs, and Nosferatu in the construction area. The Titans were holding their own, as were the Nosferatu fighting along side them, though their methods of fighting were more brutal than the Titans and Lynx. Jesse shot down her foes with excellent aim with her revolvers, landing bullets in cybernetic eyes and joints, disabling their limbs. Grimm was the cruelest one. He zipped through the ranks, leaving a trail of sliced up metal and flesh behind him where he went. Freya on the other hand was demonstrating a unique way of fighting. She led her foes into the construction site and as she past current areas, her right hand glowed a strange color that faded from all but her own sight, leaving a glyph of some kind. Whenever one of the cyborgs got near one of these glyphs, she shot her hand up and a bolt of color of that glyph shot out and activated the glyph, triggering bizarre traps that appeared out of the fabric of reality. One red glyph turned into a moving wall that slammed one cyborg against the opposite wall, nearly crushing him. A green one turned out to be a huge flaming metal ball that landed right on top of an unlucky cyborg's head.

Though it seemed that they were fairing well, they were being greatly outnumbered. Robin knew he had to take down Brother Blood and break his hold on the cyborgs if there was to be any hope of this ending. He leapt over a group of cyborgs coming at him and darted straight at Brother Blood, his Evil Eye blazing to life and fired it at Brother Blood. Blood smirked as he saw Robin coming and grabbed one of the nearest cyborgs and used him as a living shield to take the full hit. Stricken with loathing by the underhanded deed, Robin growled angrily and pivoted straight at Brother Blood with the end of his double-bladed staff bearing down on him. Brother Blood threw the damaged cyborg at Robin, forcing him to move his weapon away or risk impaling the cyborg with it and let it knock him out of the air and fall on his side.

"Your sympathy will be your undoing, Robin," Brother Blood sneered, walking over to the fallen Titan.

"I won't let you get away with what you've done, Blood…" Robin growled up at him, his right eye glowing dangerously.

"You cannot beat me, Robin. None of you can, jus admit that fact and die," Brother Blood said, and his hand glowed blood red as he raised it to deliver the final blow.

Out of nowhere, darkness grew next to Brother Blood and a hand made of that darkness with claws at the end shot out and swiped at Blood. The maniac psychic pivoted to the side to dodge the hand and stared in disbelief as Sin melted out of the darkness and bore down on him with furious eyes.

"How in the world did you come to your senses so quickly?!" Brother Blood demanded.

Sin response was a savage roar, shaking everything around them and scaring even the overconfident psychic to his cybernetic core.

"Sin…?!" Robin gaped, staring up at the wild Nosferatu.

It drew Sin's attention and he snarled at his fledgling and swiped at him with his claws. An astral projection in the shape of a bird swooped down at that same moment and absorbed Robin. It flew away from Sin and folded inward and Raven, Robin, Hornet, and Desdemona stood where it disappeared.

Robin turned to Raven. "What's the matter with Sin?"

"He…He's lost control of himself…to his Beast, Robin," Raven answered, so wanting to just to hold him and feel him hold her in return, but this wasn't the time for that. She had to stop Sin before he got too out of hand, but that didn't stop the flood of tears falling down her face. "We have to save him."

"Save him?! What about us!" Beast Boy shouted, dodging a metallic fist aimed for his head.

"Yeah, we're not exactly able to do much saving with all these minions trying to beat the crap out of us!" Cyborg said, punching back one of the cyborg's who was trying to rip his artificial arm off.

Sin let loose another roar that froze everyone, drawing the attention of the other Nosferatu.

Jesse gawked at Sin, looking very terrified of the monstrous Sin. "…T-That can't be Sin...That energy! It's horrible!"

Grimm appeared in the blink of an eye next to the gunslinger Nosferatu, looking just as shocked as she was. "Is this truly Sin...?"

" _ **BBBllloooooodddddd!**_ " Sin roared out, locking his crimson eyes on Brother Blood.

"Oh? You want to have another go at me, bloodsucker?" Brother Blood taunted. "Fine by me. I'll enjoy beating you to the ground again…into a whimpering mindless fool."

That invoked a louder roar from Sin and he came at Brother Blood with wild abandonment. Snapping his fingers, Brother Blood commanded the remaining functional cyborgs to attack Sin. That was the biggest mistake he ever made…

The first cyborg hardly got to throw a punch when Sin reached out and ripped the arm out of its socket and impaled the dismembered limb in its sternum, kicking it out of his way. The next one had its head completely knocked off with a backhand strike from Sin, smacking another cyborg in the face with the head, stunning it. Not bothering to go around the headless cyborg, Sin grabbed it and ripped its body in half from its waistline as he charged through and pounced on the stunned cyborg, burying his claws in its armor and viciously tearing into it until its whole upper torso was a gory mess. One cyborg tried to sneak up on Sin, but his hair turned into a nest of snakes and whipped around the cyborg's limbs and yanked them from its body, spraying the ground with more gore, blood, and metal.

"Oh God!" Cyborg said horrified, trying to keep the contents of his stomach from coming out. "He's gonna kill them all! Doesn't he remember their just Brother Blood's victims?!"

"No…while in that state, Sin is completely unaware of what he is doing. His Beast is controlling everything he does and it seems to want to make Blood pay for what it did to Sin...and make any who get in his way, pay, too," Hornet replied, looking away from the horrifying slaughter.

"SIN!" Robin shouted, running to his Sire.

"Robin! Don't go near him!" Raven warned, running after him.

Right when Robin was about to reach Sin, a figure dressed in red showed up out of nowhere and yanked him away from Sin. Robin struggled against the person until he looked up and saw it was Ruby holding him at bay.

"What are you doing?! Let me go!" Robin demanded, thrashing in her grip.

"I'm doing this for your own good!" Ruby stated roughly, finding it difficult to hold him. He definitely was Sin's fledgling…

"Just let me go!" Robin roared at her, twisting in vain against the iron grip she had on him.

"…You can't help him like this," Ruby stated, blood tears protruding down her sad face.

What a sight it was to see Sin like this…for them all. Uncontrolled. Wild…Mad. He was more the Beast in him at this moment than the laughing, grinning man they all knew. This was a monster before them…To try and reason with him now would result in a painful death. Ruby understood this, as did the other Nosferatu present. None of them were strong enough, even Grimm with his arrogance, were unable to stop the rampaging Sin. All any of them could do at this time was to keep the Titans safe from him until he regained his sense of self, or so Ruby hoped dearly.

Brother Blood sent more cyborgs against Sin. His response was the same. He butchered every one of them that got in his path to Blood. Ignoring the minor pain that stabbed at him when some of them jabbed their fists in his shadow-mattered body. He continued stalking forward, ripping and maiming what poor wretch that Brother Blood forced in his way. Sin ripped limbs from bodies, decapitated them right where they stood, impaling them on his claws. He was just butchering them heartlessly.

"I can't take this anymore!" Cyborg shouted, shifting his arm into its Cannon Mode…and took aim at Sin.

Beast Boy grabbed at his arm in futile attempt to pull it down. "What are you doing, Cy!?"

"I can't stand and let Sin kill those people! None of them are in control of themselves, they're all innocent people!" Cyborg said, charging his cannon and fired at Sin. The sonic beam struck Sin over the side of his head. He jerked his head straight at Cyborg and growled savagely at him.

"Dude, that was the fucking wrong thing to do…" Beast Boy remarked and started easing back.

Cyborg fired again and the sonic blast struck Sin again in the head, making him roar at him and break off his path to Brother Blood and came charging toward them.

"Oh, great! You just had to make him mad as us, didn't you?" Desdemona growled, drawing out her scythe.

"Bad day! Bad day! Bad fucking day!" Lynx exclaimed crossly.

"Better us than them," Cyborg retorted, charging his cannon to lethal capacity and shot Sin in his shoulder, blowing off chucks of shadow-matter and flesh.

The inflicted wound just enraged Sin and came at him faster. He blinked out of existence and reappeared right in Cyborg's face and slashed upward with his claws, slicing his armored chest. Cyborg fell back and raised an arm to protect his face from the downward swipe that Sin aimed at him, when Beast Boy morphed into his Werebeast form and tackled Sin away from him. The green shape-shifter and the wild Nosferatu wrestled to the ground, with Beast Boy trying to pin him down as best he could. Sin thrashed under him and roared frustrated-ly. The wound that Cyborg had caused before was sealing up by the darkness making up his body and a large snake head shot out of the wound and clamped its jaws on Beast Boy's right shoulder, burying its fangs in his flesh and instantly a burning pain spread in his veins. Beast Boy howled and released his hold on Sin and struggled with the large snake biting him and jerked the snake off him and collapsed to the ground, spasms in pain caused his body to jerk violently. The snake retreated back into Sin's body and reformed the missing part of his shoulder. Sin came at Beast Boy to finish him off, when Desdemona wrapped her spiked chains around him and yanked him away from the green shape-shifter, drawing his attention to her.

Hornet instantly went to Beast Boy and dragged him away from Sin. Cyborg stumbled over to them. "Beast Boy! W-What's happened to him?"

"Poisoned…" Hornet replied shortly as his hornets crawled out of his right sleeve and scattered about over Beast Boy's body, inserting their siphon needles through the thick fur and rough hide and started sucking his blood out.

"What are you doing to him?" Cyborg panicked, grabbing the trench coated man by his shoulder.

"I'm using my insects to draw out the poison. It needs to come out immediately, or the poison will cause your green friend to die from the poison," Hornet replied calmly. As he did, some of the hornets on Beast Boy started quivering and rolled off his body, dead. As they did, Hornet mourned sorrowfully. He might be saving this boy's life, but in exchange, he was killing his miniature companions.

Cyborg understood the sacrifice and silently thanked the Nosferatu, then rejoined the fight. Seeing that Brother Blood was attacking the Titans. He was torn between who to stop, but then he saw the Nosferatu handling Sin. Guessing they were more than capable of dealing with Sin, he ran to his teammates and helped them fight Brother Blood and his cyborgs. Lynx and Starfire were tag-teaming it, Lynx wanting to stay near Starfire in case she lost it again; the last thing they needed was someone else dear to go wild. At least if she did, he'd be able to catch this time and stop her.

Sin was being attacked from both sides by Grimm and Jesse. Grimm with his flashing blades and Jesse with her bullets. Grimm cut down the snakes that snapped at him from Sin's body, decapitating them before they got too close to him. Jesse fired repeatedly with her revolvers, reloading them with a speed too fast for even the Nosferatu's present to catch with their heightened senses. Sin was on all fours now and looked more like his Beast's monster form than his human form. Those freakish wings were unfolding from his back and that serpentine tail was protruding from the end of his spine, and his hair was a nest of angry snakes. The half-changed Sin jumped right into the sky, extended his demonic wings and took flight. He circled the air, dodging Jesse's bullets and pulled out the circle soon to dive straight at Grimm. The blade-wielder tried to pivot to the side, but he was too late to get out of the way. Sin glazed him with his claws over his left shoulder and as he past by him, his tail whipped forward and knocked Grimm over the head, flinging him helplessly to the ground. Sin flew up into the air and circled back and dove for Jesse. The gunslinger was ready for him and leapt out of his path, pointing her two revolvers to shoot at his unguarded flank and filling it with bloody holes.

The pain from the silver bullets she had been using were taking affect on Sin, finally. He crashed against a pile of cement bags and thrashed his limbs crazily as he tried to get back up. Freya appeared right next to him, kneeling just an inch from his face. The wide-eye elf blinked once at him just as he looked up at her and tried slashing at her. She pointed to the ground under him with a finger and a green beam shot out of it, and the next thing that happened was a guillotine materializing from the air, suspending from a chain hanging out of a distorted fabric of space. The huge blade sliced Sin over his back, nearly cutting his upper body from his waist. The guillotine came swinging back and the snakes on Sin's head shot out and grabbed it, halting it in its mid-swing and yanked at it, breaking its chain and throwing it to the side where the Titans were at. Raven caught it with her telekinesis in time and set the thing down on safely to the ground.

Sin's shadow-mattered body pulled itself back together, sealing over the gaping wound that almost cut him in half. Freya jumped back as Sin lunged at her and she pointed at the spot she had been standing, a red beam this time. Right as Sin past over the spot she had occupied previously, an explosion blew up in his face and sent him flying up into the air with flames on his body. He crashed down near the Titans and screamed inhumanly as the flames ate at his body. Acting quickly, Raven sealed him in a kinetic bubble, letting the flames eat up the oxygen in the bubble and die out, having no need for air; she hadn't worried about Sin suffocating in it. She approached the bubble and tried talking sense to the crazy beast in the black bubble.

"Sin…please, you have to get a hold of Beast!" Raven pleaded to him, touching the surface of the bubble. "We need you right now…I need you back with me..."

If her words reached him or not, he made no sign that he did. His body radiated with dark energy and the bubble burst around him and he pounced on top of Raven, with his clawed hands around her throat. His savage face smiled in anticipation of the kill and tightened his hold on her. Raven gasped for air and tried in vain to pull his hands off her throat. He was just too strong. Her vision was beginning to darken and she felt her life slowly being wrenched from her body, but through all that, she still cared for the man that was taking her life. Through the pain, she smiled at him and tried telling him with her eyes that she forgave him as the light in her eyes started to deem…

With a gurgled voice, she whispered. "…I love-e y-you…my S-Smiling Mo-on."

As her vision was about to be covered in darkness, the hands around her throat let go of her. She started choking as her lungs forced her to breathe once again, and her vision returned to her slowly, blurry, but it was better than the darkness about to take her sight. When the blurriness subsided, her sight was filled with a face no longer shrouded in darkness, or eyes solid with blood. She looked up into the red eyes that were streaming with blood tears and filled with horror.

"R-Raven…?" Sin uttered at from trembling lips.

"Si…" Her throat was too raw for her to speak from the intense pressure that had squeezed it just a moment ago. She gazed into those tearful eyes and locked them with her forgiving ones, hoping that was enough to tell him she wasn't angry with him.

Sin closed his eyes and clawed at the dirt ground in anger. He pulled himself away from Raven and sat on his knees, holding himself. Raven sat up and saw that those monstrous wings and tail were still on his body and rest was still covered with that shadowy matter. Sin growled furiously and the wings and tail pulled back into his body and the shadow-matter reformed into his white skin and clothes. By the time he opened his eyes again, he was standing up and back in his original form.

Raven felt arms suddenly around her and she looked to her side and found Robin's worried face there, who had just gotten out of Ruby's grip. He hugged her close to him and Raven was just as eager to get her arms around him. Sin gazed back at his children and cold anger was shining in his blood stained eyes, anger directed right at himself. He shunned his face away from them and looked around him and his anger toward himself grew to horrible loathing. Everywhere he looked there were mangled bodies and blood, limbs littered the ground away from their owners and some of the hoods had fallen off to reveal the terror on all the dead victims. He saw Hornet treating Beast Boy with his hornets and Jesse and Freya tending to Grimm's ripped out shoulder. Then his eyes found there way to Brother Blood, who had been standing in disbelief to the carnage that he had caused.

Seeing his gaze on him, Brother Blood inwardly cringed. "…I-I see you're not all that you appeared to be."

Sin turned his body toward him and his eyes started glowing dark red. "…You have no idea of the damage you caused me, Blood."

Brother Blood tried to put on a fake calm demeanor. "Is that right? From what I saw, you were the one that caused most of the damage."

Sin bared his fangs and his body was beginning to be shrouded again in darkness. Above him the moon began to glow red and its scarlet rays shone down over Sin. The ground around him began to shake and the loose dirt and rock started shaking from the force being put out by Sin.

"There is no forgiving for what you did, Blood," Sin growled darkly. "…You're a dead man."

Brother Blood got into a stance and he waved at Sin. "Come on then, monster. Let's have another go!"

Sin reared his fist back and slammed it against the ground, a shockwave of dark energy ripped through the ground and a knocked Brother Blood off balance. Sin then leapt right at him and swung his fist in a vicious uppercut, connecting with Blood's jaw. The blow sent him flying and as he started falling, tendrils of darkness whipped out from Sin and grabbed him by the throat. Blood hung there, clawing at the tendrils hanging him and his panicked eyes looked around and saw a mass of darkness rising up from the ground and forming into a tree, the tendrils around his neck now hung from a branch from this tree and squeezed around him tighter.

Sin stalked over to him and stood right next to him, looking up at his breathless face. "…Just a little sample of what's to come, Blood. You're not going to die that easily tonight."

"Like…hell!" Brother Blood choked and his eyes blazed red. A burst of red energy emitted from his body and the darkness around his throat was pushed off him, the tree that had form vanished and Brother Blood fell to his knees on the ground.

Sin bore murderous eyes down at him and the moon above him glowed even redder. It poured down over him and his body began glowing with the red light, mixing in with the darkness flickering off his body. Brother Blood sensed the power growing in Sin and he was feared that he might have bitten off more than he could chew with this man. The light from the moon focused into a pillar of red light around Sin and as it intensified, Raven panicked, knowing exactly what Sin was about to do.

She pulled at Robin and tried crawling with him in her arms away from Sin. "We got to clear this area!"

"W-What? What for?" Robin asked in fear, wondering what was going on.

"Sin…he's about to use a dangerous technique! One he used on Trigon!" Raven warned.

Robin needed no further prompting. He helped Raven to her feet and the two cleared away, getting everyone else to pull back. Brother Blood, in his desperation, tried to impale his talons in Sin, but was blocked by the red energy surrounding Sin.

"…I'll make you suffer for what you made me do!" Sin roared.

Darkness lashed out from Sin's body and grabbed Brother Blood and flung him straight into the air. He waved his limbs around to flip himself so he was facing Sin when he began his descent.

"You think throwing me around is going to make me suffer?!" Brother Blood shouted at him in anger. "You were doing better when you were acting like a crazy monster!"

Sin glared up at him as darkness built up at his hands and he slammed his wrists, his opened palms pointing up at Brother Blood, together and his belts all glowed with intense red light. The dark energy started to build up around his hands and the pillar of red light brightened the night in crimson.

" _ **Darkside Wave!**_ " Sin roared with power, and the energy in his hands magnified and fired a massive beam of dark energy with red helix beams circling around it, some of the ground around him heated up and melted into molten lava.

Astonished by the attack, Brother Blood nearly forgot to raise his red kinetic shield in time. The dark energy slammed into his shield and pushed him up further into the air. It was straining him greatly to keep his shield from shattering against the enormous amount of energy coming at him. The beam was so great that it spread around his shield, covering him from sight in the dark and red energy. He roared in frustration as sweat broke out on the natural side of his face. He doubled the output of his systems to give him more energy to sustain the shield and hoped it would last long enough to withstand this attack.

"Is this all you got, vampire!" Brother Blood shouted in defiance. "You have to do more if you are to defeat me!"

Out of nowhere in the dark energy, an extended fingered hand pierced through the shield and buried itself in Brother Blood's armored stomach, breaking through to the other side of him.

"What…" Brother Blood gawked in distress, looking down at the arm embedded in his chest. "...How?"

The dark energy dissipated and to reveal Sin floating in front of him with his arm lodged in his stomach. He snarled evilly and with the arm planted inside Brother Blood, he forced them to begin falling down to the ground. Sin pulled out his arm in time and slammed Brother Blood into the earth; with so much force it created a crater underneath them and kicking up clouds of dust.

Brother Blood laid there in the crater, dazed. "I…don't understand."

Sin stood over him with a foot resting on his stomach. "I told you, Blood…I'm going to make you suffer!" He kneeled down and straddled Brother Blood and placed his hands on Blood's shoulders and bore down on him with an insane smile. "…I'm going to devour you, Brother Blood…I'm going to eat at every part of you inch by inch until there's nothing left of you and absorb you into my psyche. And once in there, I'm going to hand you to some inner demons of mine to play with and torture you for all eternity…" His body began pouring out darkness and it crawled over Brother Blood, and he instantly felt his body being devoured by that darkness, clawing at each cell and ripping them apart one at a time.

Brother Blood screamed and desperately tried to push Sin off him. Sin just smiled wider at him and his eyes glowed evilly and watched Brother Blood's terrified face as he devoured him.

"No! I won't let it end like this! Not like this!" Brother Blood vowed and tapped into what energy he had left, and his body shone a deem red and he teleported himself out from under Sin.

Sin roared in anger and tried grabbing at him, but his hands only grabbed at dirt. "NO!" Sin howled madly and clawed at the dirt, screaming in fury and slamming his hands over and over on the ground. "I'll kill you, Blood! You hear me you bastard! _I'LL KILL YOU!_ "

The Titans and the Nosferatu came to the edge of the crater and looked down at Sin. Raven levitated down to him and kneeled behind and wrapped her arms around his waist as he continued beating his bloodied fists against the hard earth. "Sin, please…please just calm down. It's all over…It's over."

Sin slowly cooled down and he leaned back against Raven for support, feeling exhausted as his anger fleeted out of him. "…I can't let him go unpunished, Raven. Not after what he did…what he made me do…"

"I forgive you, Sin…I understood why you did everything you did…don't blame yourself for that," Raven said, burying her face against his back. "You're back with us, that's all that matters…"

"But…I nearly killed you, Raven…How can you forgive me?" Sin wept, staring at his bloodied hands, the hands that he had around his own daughter's throat.

"Because I love you, that's why," Raven stated simply, hugging him.

Sin sighed mournfully and was disturbed by how peaceful he felt now. He sighed lighter and touched the hands around his waist. "…Why is it that I'm so calm right now…?"

"Because we're together again…my night spirit," Raven replied.

Sin's eyes widened and he turned around to face Raven and in that instant, in that moment, he was gazing into the exact same face that he once gazed upon centuries ago. "…C-Cynthia?"

"Yes…and no," Raven answered, crying freely now.

Sin let out a gasping cry and twisted around and flung his arms around her. "I can't believe this!"

"I couldn't either…but when I was in your mind and saw your memories of that day…that horrible day…and felt your emotions, it awoke my old life's memories," Raven revealed, resting her face against his chest. "…I saw you, Sin…I saw you come for me just as that part of my life ended...but even when I died…I was just so happy to see you again. I never blamed you for not saving me then, Sin…never."

Up on the edge of the crater, everyone was staring in amazement at this revelation.

"That girl is Cynthia?!" Jesse gawked with her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"So it would seem…and it would explain a few things about why Sin was so insistent to keep her safe," Hornet said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Man, I am so lost with everything right now," Desdemona exasperated, resting her hands on her hips.

Ruby gazed down at the two and her eyes were filled with mixed emotions. "…He got her back."

"Man, this has turned out to be a weird day," Beast Boy groaned and looking rather pale from the blood Hornet's bugs drained from him.

"...Yeah, but we have other problems now," Cyborg said, looking out at the remains of all the minions that Brother Blood manipulated.

"We will see that their bodies are respectfully taken care of," Starfire said, hugging against Lynx.

"Already contacted the police," Cyborg informed, having used a wireless message to the police. "They're not happy about this, Robin…it's getting too much for them to deal with the clean-ups…"

"Can't be helped right now, Cyborg," Robin said without looking at him, his mismatched eyes were gazing down at the two in the crater, feeling a tingle in the back of his mind of something he couldn't quite place. "…I'm just thankful we're all still in one piece."

In a secret headquarters, Brother Blood appeared in his repair bay, falling down and clinging to the operating table. He was furious! As if it wasn't bad enough he wasn't able to exact his revenge on Cyborg, his plans were ruined by that blasted vampire! He'd make them all pay once he repaired himself and the next group finished being 're-fitted'. He was already making improvements for his cyborgs as he lay down on the operating table and started connecting himself to his recharger. Once he was fully powered again, he'd track down Professor Chan and persuade the scientist to upgrade his cybernetics, again.

He just closed his eyes to rest when they snapped back open. He turned his head to the side of the operating table and glared at a dark corner. "Who is there? Show yourself, now!"

A bipedal metal mask revealed itself from the darkness into the light. "You're telepathic mind serves you well."

"…Slade?!" Brother Blood murmured in stupefaction upon seeing the infamous mastermind in his repair bay. "What are you doing here?"

Slade stepped out of the darkness and approached the table with his arms folded behind him. "Oh, I was asked to track you down by a…partner of mine."

"Partner? What business does he have with me?" Brother Blood demanded, sitting up from the table.

"I'll let him tell you…" Slade said with a hint of amusement edged in his voice, backing away from the table.

That moment, Brother Blood sensed an undead being in the room. The figure stepped out of the darkness and placed his hand on the edge of the table and gazed at him with cold, angry crimson eyes.

"You made a terrible miscalculation, Blood," Stefan growled lightly, running the hand up the table to touch Blood's damaged armor. "And you have done the most unforgivable thing in this world."

Brother Blood flinched away from the necromancer's touch. "Get out of my headquarters before I kill you."

Stefan 'tsked' at him. "Is that anyway to treat guests?"

Brother Blood's eyes glowed and he sent a probe to invade and take control of Slade. But his probe was blocked by a mental barrier….the same as….

"No…You're…Arh!" Brother Blood didn't have time to finish what he was about to say.

Stefan grabbed him by the throat with one hand and started crushing it slowly. "Your crime…your unforgivable crime…was…" Sadistic anger shone in his cold eyes. "…You tortured Sin. You made him cry…suffer…humiliated him!" The metal around Brother Blood's neck began to bend under his grip and pulled him off the table and lifted him above his head. "No one will get away from doing that to Sin…and live…"

Suddenly, he let go of Brother Blood and turned his back to him. Brother Blood choked out for air, gasping out his words, and leaning on the table for support. "So what?! You'll have Slade kill me, so as to not dirty your own hands?"

Stefan turned to face him again with an evil grin rising up on his stoic face. "No, your death is for…him."

"Who…Ahhh!" Brother Blood screamed when a fist erupted from out his chest. Brother Blood inched his head back to look out of the corner of his eye to see who had attacked him. He was met with a very young and pale face with emotionless eyes and a far-off expression. Dressed in robes with the similar design as his, but with blue sleeves and legging and lining his neck, and a golden cape around him, black armguards and shin protectors, with a black belt that formed diamond shape around the round golden buckle. His face burned in his vision as his wide eyes faded and he limped on the arm now, dead.

The youth pulled his arm out of the dead Brother Blood and watched impassively as the body crumbled to the floor and blood started pooling and staining the floor.

"Well done, Sebastian," Stefan applauded, gazing down at the dead body with a calculating look on his face, as if working out something in his mind.

"No, my name is Brother Blood," Sebastian said coldly. "Now that I have rightfully 'claimed' it from…father…" The new Brother Blood glared at the cadaver he shared genetics with.

"Whatever you say," Stefan said uncaringly, waving the subject away. "Slade, bring the body will you? I think I have a much better use for it than its previous owner."

Surprisingly, Slade did as he was told and picked up the body with one arm. Stefan looked up at Sebastian. "We will continue as planned, you will take over as the new head of the Church of Blood, providing me with more material and we will begin the next step shortly."

"As we agreed…" The new Brother Blood confirmed.

"Come, Slade…we have much work ahead of us," Stefan ordered and started walking off into the shadows.

Slade tensed for a moment, a hint of red flashed in his masked eye, then he followed Stefan into the darkness with the body tucked firmly under his arm. "Yes…My Sire…"

A/N: Oh, I love these twists, don't you?! Sin's inner demons are revealed and Raven remembers her past life. And what's this?! Slade called Stefan his Sire, what could that mean? What's more, a new colder Brother Blood has now appeared and seems to be allied with Stefan and Slade…Wonder what the next thing they have planned for The Titans and Sin? Want to know the answers? Then keep reading and motivating me with some reviews and your suggestions for the plot! Gotta go for 2000 reviews now! Come on and help me reach that goal!


	28. Chapter 28

Disclaimer: I don't own or claim any rights to Teen Titans. They are the rightful property of Cartoon Network and DC Comics. Rightful, and only claim, is to the plot and the following OCs: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, Grimm, Freya, Hornet, Jesse, and Ruby. Desdemona Aimee Graves belongs solely to Grave_of_Desdemona.

A/N: As I promised to everyone that has given me ideas for this story, I have taken the following ones and will fit them into the plot: More Starfire/Lynx, tension and jealousy growing between Sire and Fledgling, the reappearance of an old teammate, Lycan and wereleopard involvement, battle scene between Stefan and Sin, and a showdown between Tamaran Princesses. I welcome more ideas and opinions from everyone, so please drop them in a review if you think of more, even if you've already given one.

I'm going to clear up some things that some people have gotten confused on. (1): Raven is the reincarnation of Cynthia, and no, Cynthia was not Sin's past lover. (2): Sebastian/Brother Blood is based from the original comic book version of Teen Titans. (3): Hot Spot and Wildebeest returned to Titans East, as noted in chapter 21 _'Red Masque'_ (4) Stefan does have an infatuation, a demented one, for Sin.

I also want to make aware that no matter what happens in this story that it will remain a Robin/Raven pairing, even if elements will be introduced to test and question their relationship, so please don't fear that I will break this great pairing apart….although I am entertaining the thoughts of making it a love-triangle. But please, give me your thoughts and I will weigh my choices on how many people feel about it.

 **Jinxed Serenade**

They returned to Titans Tower. Cyborg had quickly shut down the systems of the poor souls that Brother Blood altered; setting them in a bay temporarily until he could diagnose their programming, and see if they held any secret programming that might make them hostile even if Brother Blood was gone. Later, exhausted and emotionally worn, everyone crashed in the common room and prayed that they'd be granted a few hours rest. Robin and Raven had just set Sin on the couch when he fell asleep from total exhaustion. Raven sat down next to him and brushed his long bangs off his face to gaze at his resting expression. It still looked somewhat troubled from all that happened, but there was a lighter look to it than ever before, as if some old pain had finally healed.

Hornet came over to the couch with blood-packs he took out of their Infirmary and threw one to Robin. The Fallen Wonder easily caught it from the air and nodded his thanks to him. "You did good out there, kid."

Robin ripped the top of the pack open. "Thanks…but I didn't really do much," he said before sipping his pack.

"No, you did a great job in keeping your team alive against those cyborgs and Brother Blood," Hornet said. "I can see why Sin made you his child now. You have the makings for a great Nosferatu…and if you want, maybe you'll want to become an Enforcer. Someone with your skills would be invaluable to us."

Robin finished his blood-pack quickly and gazed up at the trench-coated Nosferatu. "...Sin already gave me that offer…and I've been seriously thinking of taking it." He looked at Raven and the other Titans. "Once everything is settled down, though."

"Naturally," Hornet replied, opening his own blood-pack and started drinking from it.

Desdemona stretched her tired limbs. "Man, this has been an exhausting night!"

"You hardly did anything, rogue," Grimm snipped, resting his hands on his hips…one near his sickle blade.

The scythe-wielder shrugged with a wary eye on his hand. "I'm not much into the brutality of extended fights. I'd rather just get them done as fast as I can and be done with it all."

"It's that attitude that's made you a rogue," Grimm growled.

She shrugged again. "My unlife. I'll do what I want with it."

Grimm growled again at her some more and then turned away from her, glaring at Robin. "Do you have a decent training facility? I need to let some steam out."

Robin glared back at him, his right eye glowing warningly. "Yes…Beast Boy, mind showing him where it is?"

Beast Boy groaned but nodded to him. "Sure…follow me, dude."

Grimm curtly nodded and followed the green shape-shifter out to the training room. Jesse came over and sat down next to Robin, an arm making its way around his shoulders, and a finger dancing over this chestplate.

"You were really somethin', Robin," Jesse said with a slight husky note in her voice.

He was instantly uncomfortable with her. "…Uh, T-Thanks, Jesse. I guess that means a lot coming from you."

Jesse giggled lightly and patted his chest. "Ya ain't gotta be shy with me, Robin."

"I'm not being shy," Robin replied sternly.

Jesse eyed him with a raised eyebrow, then smirked at him. "If ya ain't shy then how's about we get to know each other a bit better…like now in your bed."

Robin blushed madly thanks to the blood he just consumed, then pushed her hand off his chest. "Sorry, but I'm taken already." He nodded to Raven who was glaring dangerously at the gunslinger woman.

"So, what's ya point?" Jesse wondered, eyeing Raven like she wasn't a problem.

Robin stared at her. "I'm with someone else, that's my point."

"Again, so?" Jesse pressed, leaning her body against him.

"Meaning, only I get to touch him," Raven growled lowly at her.

"What, you don't like sharing your men?" Jesse teased with a lecherous smile. "But he's a Nosferatu."

"What difference does that make?" Robin said in a low voice that promised pain.

Now it was Jesse's turn to stare at him. "Hasn't Sin taught ya anything?"

Robin frowned more at her. "He taught me what I needed to know to survive."

Jesse shook her head and looked at Hornet. "Sin really left this boy in the dark, didn't he?"

Hornet shook his head and walked over to them, leaning against the couch between Jesse and Robin, giving Robin his wanted space from the gunslinger. He turned his head to the confused Fallen Wonder and adjusted his round sunglasses. "What Jesse meant to say is that Sin hadn't told you anything about normal Nosferatu behavior."

Robin leaned against the couched and crossed his arms over this chest. "Okay, so fill me in."

Hornet nodded his head slightly. "It is acceptable for any Nosferatu to sleep with any number of people that they wish. Most Nosferatu don't believe in the marriage system, seeing it as a confinement to their freedom, but it's not unheard of when two do wish to join in marriage…but most of those never last, either."

"So in other words, we just sleep with whomever even if that other person has someone they love, is that what you're saying?" Robin deduced with a frown.

"Exactly. We live longer than humans and some times feelings and relationships change and people wish to separate for a time," Hornet continued. "So it's acceptable for couples to involve others in their intimate activities to keep their own from becoming boring."

Robin frowned harder. "That doesn't sound right to me."

"Nor me," Raven added, keeping her eyes on Jesse.

Hornet shrugged and had the politeness to look embarrassed. "It's a strange concept for newly changed Nosferatu to accept…but eternity and time does change people's thoughts…"

Ruby strolled over to them. "…It's not for everyone, mate. Some of us still believe in the same guidelines about coupling as you do. So don't think that all of us Nosferatu are harlots and tramps."

Jesse shot the pirate a dirty look. "Did ya just call me a Harlot?"

Ruby squared her look with a stern one. "Any woman that throws herself like you just did to the boy is considered a harlot in my book, savvy."

Jesse had a revolver out of her holster before anyone even saw her reaching for it. "I'd be careful who you call names to, bitch."

"Jesse, put the gun away," Hornet said sternly.

"I ain't lettin' this…" she was stopped when her gun disappeared. "What the?"

Robin held out her gun in front of her face. "I don't like guns. If you draw it again on someone here, I'll break it."

Jesse eyed the Fallen Wonder and slowly took her gun and put it back in its holster. "…Damn, this boy is too much like Sin." She pushed herself off the couch and sauntered off. "…My mood's ruined. I think I'll see if I can't find someone who does wanna play."

"Whore…" Ruby growled when the gunslinger was far enough out of earshot.

Hornet sighed and let his head hang slightly off his shoulders. "Forgive my teammates…They let their desires rule their better judgment."

Robin looked back at him. "Don't worry about it…I'll just start bolting my door before I go to bed." He turned to look at Sin and gaped when he saw Freya sitting on top of him, straddling him, with her hand on his forehead. "Umm…what are you doing to him?"

Freya briefly looked at him and then turned her almost-shaped eyes back to Sin. "…He fights Shade right now."

"Shade? Who or what is Shade?" Robin asked curiously.

"A really powerful being trapped inside Sin's mind," Raven answered. "...You don't want to know anymore than that about it."

"How did it get inside Sin?" Robin wondered in concern for his Sire.

Hornet tapped Robin's head, drawing his attention back to him. "I can answer that. Shade was a very powerful Nosferatu back in the old days. He was considered the original Master of Darkness…but his thirst for power was unending. Soon, he got too dangerous for the world and all the strongest Nosferatu took a stand to stop him, Sin was among them. At the time, Sin was just a minor Shadowmancer. No one would have thought that he'd defeat Shade…but somehow this tricky devil pulled it off and Sin devoured his power and essences." Hornet adjusted his glasses again and looked squarely at Sin and Freya. "Shade also happens to be Freya's Sire…"

The undead elf gazed up at Hornet once, with that piercing wide stare and for a brief moment, an emotion filled those red eyes. Whatever she was feeling was quickly gone and she returned to staring at Sin.

"…So is that how you met Sin?" Robin asked the elf. He didn't expect an answer from her, but she nodded her head slightly.

"She was Shade's slave more than his fledgling," Hornet said sorrowfully. "He did all sorts of things to her mind and body…that's kinda the reason why she doesn't talk very much. After Sin defeated Shade, everyone was just going to leave her to waste away…but Sin helped her by forming the Enforcers."

"Wait, you mean Sin started the Enforcers? I thought he was just an Elite member," Raven said.

Hornet shrugged some. "There was a taskforce that dealt with unruly Nosferatu before, but they worked for their own agenda and were really just a bunch of assassins. Sin here formed the Enforcers to stop all that, to stop Nosferatu from getting out of hand." He paused for a moment, as if thinking back to another time. "Those weren't good times for any Nosferatu or humans or anyone…Back then too much was ruined by death and destruction, although, as I look at how things stand now, it's all coming back."

"Won't happen," Freya said. "Sin will stop it."

"How are you so sure, Freya?" Hornet questioned her. "How can you be sure that Sin can stop all this?"

There was the barest of smiles on her face now. "Sin just can…"

Hornet slowly smirked and looked at the sleeping Nosferatu. "Yeah…this old devil has too many tricks up his sleeves."

Freya looked confused and grabbed one of Sin's arms and looked down the sleeve of it. "Where tricks?"

"Umm…forget I said that," Hornet sighed, running his hand through his hair.

The intercom went off and Cyborg went over to the computer and switched it to the main-screen. Chief Clary appeared on the screen and he looked none too happy. "Robin…er…" He faltered when he saw Freya who was still stilling on top of Sin. "…I hope this isn't what I think it is."

Robin chuckled and walked up to the main-screen after he put his sunglasses on. "No, Chief, it's not how you think…we just had a run in with Brother Blood and he caused some mental damage to Sinclair." He waved a hand to Freya. "This is a friend of Sinclair's, Freya. She's a specialist and is tending to the damage." He wasn't lying to Chief Clary; he just hated the fact that he couldn't tell him the whole truth.

"Brother Blood, you say?" Chief Clary repeated, using that to regain his focus. "Is he the cause of that slaughter we found?"

"Yes," Robin replied without hesitation. "Brother Blood has been kidnapping people and turning them into…machines to do his dirty work. Some of them have been killing all the vampires, which is why so many of them were…"

Chief Clary held up a hand. "You don't have to explain anymore, Robin. I just needed to know who was responsible this time for this mess." The chief smiled bitterly. "This actually turned out for the best…"

Robin frowned at him as his eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses. "How was that slaughter anything near good?"

Chief Clary frown himself now. "I know it sounds bad of me saying that, Robin. But you have to understand. We've had too many death tolls in this month alone…and we can't keep this under wraps any longer…especially not after I found out one of my own men had been trying to leak information out to the Press."

Robin stiffened. "Who?"

"…I'd rather not tell you, if nothing else then for his own safety," Chief Clary said. "I'll handle it in my own way." He continued when he saw Robin's angered expression. "It isn't that I don't trust you, Robin. Heaven knows, you and your bunch has earned that ten times over…it's just I don't trust some of the people you've been assorting with…"

"You mean Sinclair?" Robin growled.

"I mean that group that we've gotten reports coming and going out of your tower…you really are mixing with some weird people, Robin," Chief Clary stated. "But moving back to my point, this latest incident will give us some coverage to use to hide what's really going on."

Robin finally understood what the chief of police was getting at. "You want to use Brother Blood as a scapegoat?"

The chief nodded. "It would at least give us all something to use if pressed more by the Media, also, the mayor's already setting up some believable stories for them. I don't like hiding the truth from people, Robin. I'm really against all this, but I'm also aware that it would be dangerous to reveal to the world that the monsters kids were taught were only imaginary, are in fact, real."

"I understand how you feel, Chief Clary…It was a shock for me, too, to learn about vampires," Robin replied, again he was telling partial truth, he was shocked, mainly when he himself become one of them.

"Yes," Chief Clary agreed. "I just wanted to let you know what we had planned, but for the time being…it would be wise to keep whatever activity you and your 'friends' are doing on the down-low. I'm not sure if my detective is the only person trying to unveil all this to the rest of the media." He paused for a moment and leaned in closer to the screen after looking around, as if making sure no one would hear what he was about to say next. "Robin…is there anything you can tell me that would explain all this?"

Robin met his gaze behind his sunglasses. "I'm afraid I can't, Chief…I hate not telling you the truth, either…but it would be too dangerous for me to tell you the whole truth."

The chief chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "All right, I understand where I stand in all this…but Robin, if this does get too far, which is pretty much is already, but if it goes farther…I'm gonna have to do everything in my power to stop this, and I mean everything…"

Robin frowned. He caught the chief's hint like a brick smacking right behind his eyes. "I understand, Chief…and if it does get to that point, I promise you I'll explain everything to you then, but for now, I just can't."

The chief sighed in relief. "That's good to hear, Robin. Well, I better get back to damage controls, seems to be what I really do anymore instead of stopping crime…"

"You're still doing an important job, Chief," Robin stated confidently.

He waved Robin's attempts to make him feel better away. "I'm an old man, Robin. You can't fool me. I know well that if it came down to me and one of the criminals you deal with on a day to day bases, I'd get my ass handed, fried, or melted back to me."

Robin suppressed from chuckling. "Yeah, but with that in mind, you'd make sure you had half the police force behind you."

"Damn right!" Chief Clary chuckled, glad for some humor after the grim scene he just came from and the screen turned off.

Robin went back to the couch and collapsed next to Raven. "…Just great."

Raven knew immediately what was on his mind. "You're worried about the detective the chief mentioned?"

Robin ran a hand through his spiky hair down to his neck. "Yeah, and I think I know which one he was referring to. Damn it. If this gets out, then the whole world will know about Nosferatu and I don't want to think what the government will do then about them."

"What about the Justice League?" Starfire wondered. "Can't they prevent this?"

"Not the way you think, Star," Robin replied. "Not every hero thinks the same, Star…Look at Speedy. I'm sure there are others that think like him in the Justice League. I'm also sure they'll take extreme measures to 'deal' with every Nosferatu they find…I…" Robin was interrupted when his Bat-communicator. He took it out and hit the receive button. "Robin, here…"

"Things are getting out of hand, Robin," he heard Batman's stoic voice pour from the communicator. "Really out of hand."

Robin groaned inwardly, frowning slightly at the communicator in his hand. "Believe me, I know."

"Not as much as you think. I just talked out the League from investigating Jump City," Batman replied.

"So they already want to find out what's going on, huh?" Robin groaned loudly this time.

"They've been wanting to find out ever since the first outbreaks started," Batman stated. "I've told them that you Titans can handle it, it's your city after all."

Robin stared at his communicator, not believing what his first mentor had just said. He knew better, though, as unbelievable as it was to hear him admit it, he knew Bruce all too well.

"What are you doing, Bruce?" Robin said in a low tone.

There was an empty silence for a moment. "…Not buying it, hmm?"

"I'd be disgracing everything you taught me," Robin replied.

He caught a faint sigh come from his mentor, too low for a normal person's hearing to catch. "GL wants to bring in a squad of Lanterns to earth and purge the city."

Robin's eyes widened in fear. "He what?! He can't authorize that!"

"He's trying. He is this sector's Green Lantern Guardian, remember, Robin?" Batman reminded. "If he feels he needs to involve the Lantern Corp. He will."

"Why does he want to get the Lantern Corp involved?" Robin wondered.

"Because I've been keeping everyone in the League from getting involved with the matter in Jump City," Batman answered. "…And I'm really getting tired of blocking for you, Robin."

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know…and thanks…for letting me handle this my own way."

There was another silence and Robin knew well what he said was more than Batman expected to hear from him. "…Just get this matter resolved soon, Robin, or even I will take this matter into my own hands."

Robin frowned more. "…Fine, but I need your help on this one."

"My help?" Robin swore he heard mocking disbelief in his voice. "What do you want me to do?"

"There's a lot of activity in the darker side of Europe. All the Nosferatu are getting over here to America too damn easily. I think someone might be 'helping' them along the way," Robin revealed.

"I understand. If we can find out who is transporting the Nosferatu, then we can stop this secret invasion," Batman quickly deduced.

"Right. The Titans and I can handle Stefan, but we can't handle him and all the Nosferatu flocking to Jump City…if you could…"

"I'll do what I can on my end, Robin," Batman reassured him. "I might need to bring in a few people on what's going on, though."

"Knowing you as I do, I don't need to worry about that," Robin replied with a small grin.

"I'll let you know what develops, Batman out," then the receiver went dead.

"Not much of a 'Hello' 'Good-bye' person, is he?" Lynx remarked.

Robin put his communicator away. "That's just how he is…but I feel better knowing he'll find out who's transporting all the Nosferatu to here in Jump City."

"What makes you think there is someone helping them out?" Hornet questioned.

Robin looked at him. "It's too much of a coincidence for them to show up in large masses like this. Even if some of them were originally from the U.S., they'd still need someone to inform them about the situation. They'd also need someone who'd get them here this quickly and without any hint of their arrival. Plus, after they got here, they weren't able to keep themselves hidden or their actions on the low."

"Sounds like someone else we don't know is in the background manipulating all the eager Nosferatu," Hornet said, tapping a finger on the backrest of the couch. "We might have an old one that's taken a great interest in Raven."

"I have the same thoughts. So far, we've managed with the low-levels, but the powerhouses haven't made a step yet," Robin said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back on the couch. "They might be using the younger Nosferatu to test what kind of resistance to expect from us."

"That sounds like something one of them would do," Hornet growled. "They'll send the weak ones to get slaughter and analyses their opponents before they do anything themselves."

"Then that means, we've got bigger problems now?" Cyborg groaned, sighing in his hand. 

"Sounds like it," Robin replied. "Which means, we're gonna have to bring in more Titans to help out."

"You mean, call in Titans East?" Cyborg said a bit too eagerly.

Robin smirked at his metal friend. He couldn't blame him for being eager to bring them in. After all, they were his friends, too.

"Yeah, but more," Robin added.

"More? Who else are we going to ask for aid?" Starfire asked.

Robin already had the answer. "We can't bring in the League, as most of the well-known heroes are members, or have connections to the League. Then there's what the public will see, we can't alarm them by bringing them in, so the best solution is to bring in all-new Titan members to help us."

"Wait, you want to bring in more kids?" Hornet gaped at him.

"We're not kids anymore, Hornet," Robin replied quickly. "And some of the new members we've been recruiting are eager to help out."

"Uh…when were we recruiting?" Cyborg asked in wonder, scratching his bald head.

"I had Hot Spot and Wildebeest get the Titans East to start the recruiting. Bumblebee had reported last week that she already had some candidates ready," Robin informed.

"And when were you planning on tell us all this?" Cyborg grumbled at him, narrowing his natural eye at him.

"I meant to tell you guys last night, actually…but I didn't have a chance when Blood attacked us," Robin admitted.

Cyborg rubbed his bald head. "Alright…so just how many candidates did we get?"

Robin smirked at him. "We have near sixteen new members…plus a new team that just formed and willing to help us."

"A new team? Who?" Cyborg gawked. "When had that happened?!"

"Superboy, he formed a team called Young Justice that have been working out in California," Robin answered, smirking more and more as he talked. "It was his way of biting his thumb at the Justice League for not taking him or any other younger hero who wanted to join."

Starfire beamed with a bright smile. "Who makes up Young Justice besides Superboy?"

Robin went over to the computer and brought up a file list in the Titans mainframe. "I've got their codenames and abilities here. I'll let you guys look over it when you want to."

He left the computer, letting Cyborg seat down and uplink himself to the computer and downloaded the files. "I'll go over this and we'll have a debriefing with everyone…once Sin wakes up."

Robin patted his metal shoulder and returned to the couch, looking down at his sleeping Sire. "Let's move Sin to a room, it'll be dawn soon."

Raven picked Sin up with her telekinesis. "I'll put him in my room, it's darker in there." She left with Sin floating next to her before Robin could reply.

He watched them leave and couldn't stop the tinge of jealousy rising up and frowned at himself. He knew better. He had nothing to worry about between Sin and Raven. Still, the way Raven looked at him was more than he thought she should at the man she thought like a father to her…

Ruby rested a hand on his shoulder. "Best get a handle on our feelings, savvy."

Robin turned to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just as it was said," Ruby replied. "I know that look on your face…it's the same look I had when Sin dotted over Cynthia."

Robin gazed back at the exit. "What exactly kind of relationship did Sin have with Cynthia?"

Ruby sat herself gracefully on the couch, crossing her legs and brushing a lock of red hair off her shoulder. "They had some sort of bond between them. It was more than love, that's for sure…something I'd never been able to point my finger on…there just was a link between the two that was there."

Robin knew what she was talking about. She just described the bond he had with Raven. "They were soulmates…"

Ruby looked up at him with an odd look on her face. "What's makes you say that?"

"Because, that's the same bond between me and Raven…" Robin admitted to her. "…I'm gonna go check on them…" he left then the common room and headed to Raven's room.

When he left, Lynx took out a cell-phone and dialed a number rapidly.

Starfire noticed this and blinked at him. "Umm, whom are you calling?"

"…Calling my clan," Lynx replied. "We're gonna need all the help we can get…"

Something in his voice alerted Starfire to maybe another reason why he was calling them. The incident was still fresh in her mind and all the sensations that came from it.

"…And to tame me, right?" Starfire murmured.

Lynx's ears twitched. He flipped his cell-phone shut and touched her cheek. "No, doll, never to tame, that's not what we leopards do." He smirked at her. "We're felines, we're all too stubborn to be tamed."

A weak smiled perked up on her face. "You're being too kind about this, Lynx…but you're forgetting, I just killed a man…an innocent man."

Lynx stroked her cheek, sighing softly in his mind. This was the real start. The start of her change, the moment her instincts forced her to do something her more rational, emotionally sentimental self wouldn't have done, when the leopard inside her would seek to hunt for the thrill of the kill. It was going to get worse from here on…if he didn't do something about it now. He cupped her face with his other hand and brought her face close to his, so close that they were practically rubbing noses.

"Who are you?" Lynx asked in a serious tone, giving her the same kind of eyes.

"You know who I am, Lynx," Starfire replied perplexed with him.

" _I_ know who you are, but do you know who _you_ are?" Lynx retorted.

"Of course I—!"

"No! Don't assume it, think about it, feel it out…who are you?" Lynx stated, having cut her off with a small growl.

"…I…I…" Starfire shuddered for a moment, thinking deeply what he said.

She looked inside her, right down in her core, there she found her old self, laughing and enjoying life as all her race were brought up to do…but she also felt something else there, something was lurking in the background watching her and waiting patiently in the shadows. She started wandering over to those shadows to see what it was that was waiting in there, but then Lynx nipped her nose, bringing her out of a trance she hadn't noticed falling into. "…What…there's something within me."

"Yes, you just became aware of your leopard," Lynx replied. "If you had gone to it…it would come out and it would change you, not just your physical appearance, Star, but your personality. It's just like Sin and Robin's Beast…only not so dark. Ours is more primal, more animalistic, it is the basic nature of any predator here on this planet."

"Then…I'm not Starfire…I'm some animal?" Starfire said meekly.

"No!" Lynx said quickly. "You are still Starfire, but you're also that leopard prowling inside you. It's apart of you as this is." He placed a hand over her heart. "It's nothing to fear unless you let it, but you cannot allow it to rule you, Star."

"Then who am I?" Starfire moaned sadly.

Lynx gave her the gentlest smile. "You're Starfire, and as long as you remember that, you'll always remain in control no matter what you change into."

Starfire placed her hand over both of his, stroking her cheek against his hand. "I don't know how I'd be able to get through all this without you, Lynx."

"Heh, you'd have survived, you're too strong, you'd have found a way," Lynx said, then looked at everyone. "Because you've got people that care about you…you've had this family all this time."

"Is your clan like you? I mean, are they as supportive as you have been for me and everyone?" Starfire asked.

Lynx looked to the side then, averting her from seeing what past through his eyes. "…Some."

"Lynx?" Starfire repeated his name with concern.

"…My clan isn't like the Titans, Star…Actually, it's far from it," Lynx said. "…That's why I've held off from getting to come. I was hoping to ease you into it slowly, but everything is rushing by so fast, I can't teach you properly like that. I need the help from the more experienced leopards."

"Are they not very nice?" Starfire wondered.

"They're tough, but they are all fair; they're not the ones I'm thinking about," Lynx replied.

"You're talking about Dusk, right?" Hornet remarked.

Lynx flinched around the eyes. "Y-Yeah."

"Who's this Dusk guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"Dusk is the leader of Lynx's clan of wereleopards," Hornet replied, looking regrettable. "He's a brute of a shape-shifter and his philosophy is much the same, but he's stronger than any wereleopard to take on."

"So…this Dusk is gonna be a problem if he comes over here?" Beast Boy pondered.

"For Lynx he will…when it comes to Starfire," Hornet replied gravely, looking even more gloomily than Lynx.

"You sound like you know him personally, Hornet," Beast Boy noted.

"…We have some mixed history," Hornet growled lightly. "He took my lover from me…"

"What?! Why would he do that?" Starfire gasped.

"She's a wereleopard…that's why," Hornet responded, stuffing his hands in his coat pockets and hiding most of his face behind his high collar.

Seeing the other's confused expressions, he added some more information that he knew Hornet was reluctant to say himself. "The leader, or Alpha as we call a leader, has control over whatever his people can do…and limit them if he so choices."

"So, you're saying that Dusk simply ordered Hornet's lover not to be with him? Why would he do that?" Cyborg asked, having rejoined them after he unlinked himself from the computer console.

"Dusk has a low opinion of Nosferatu, seeing them weak on account that they cannot be active during the daytime, like shape-shifters can," Hornet replied. "Plus, he believes in strength and nothing but it…if anything he deems is weak, he treats it as such and will kill it if he wanted."

"But he can't kill Nosferatu, can he?" Ruby remarked, leaning against the backrest of the couch. "Not since Charion saved his entire clan."

"Yes, Dusk might be a bastard in some things, but he does hold to his word and will honor it, and he also will repay his debts to anyone that aids his people," Hornet said, though there was still some contempt in his tone when he said it.

"But Starfire is a wereleopard, too, what could he do that would be so bad?" Cyborg asked, walking over to Hornet.

"He can take Starfire as his mate…" Lynx said lowly, worry thick in his voice.

"What?!" all the Titans shouted.

Hornet and Ruby and Freya rubbed their ears, trying to stop the sharp echo ringing in their ears. Lynx had fallen to the ground clutching his ears. "Not so loud!"

"Uh…Sorry, but that was…! I mean, he can't do that to Starfire!" Cyborg roared, careful to keep his voice somewhat low when he did.

"Yes, he can," Lynx corrected. "Since Starfire isn't a member of any clan…and since I was the one that infected her, my clan will have no choice but to take her in, and then Dusk has all the authority he needs to make her do what he wants."

Starfire had clung herself to Lynx's arm worriedly. "…But, that isn't fair. What if I don't wish to be his mate?"

"He's the Alpha, Star…the top male, that's how it works in our culture," Lynx stated bitterly. "If he thinks you are a strong female…stronger than any of the females already in the clan, he will see you fit to be his mate…permanently…"

A heated anger slowly grew inside Starfire, her pupils began thinning out and she started baring her teeth. "I will not allow this…" Her eyes then began to glow like burning emeralds. Along with her anger, she felt her leopard stand and begin to prowl restlessly in its 'home', feeling it was equally as angry about the thought of another male coming and taking her from her mate….mate!?

Starfire locked her blazing eyes on Lynx and it clicked…her leopard saw him as her mate…and Starfire was full inclined to agree with it.

When he flinched slightly under her gaze, she blinked and the glow faded and she forced herself to calm done, just enough so she could think clearly again. "I'm sorry, Lynx…that wasn't intended at you…"

Lynx laughed it off. "It's okay, doll…but you need to watch that temper, if you address Dusk like that when you first meet him, he will take that as a sign of challenge to his authority."

"You better take tonight and instruct her in your clan's rules, Lynx," Hornet advised. "…Then call your clan in, I don't want to see Dusk at all if I can help it."

"Got it," Lynx replied and took Starfire by the hand. "Come on, we'll go somewhere private where we can talk…"

Starfire smirked at him and pounced on him. "My room!" She then lifted him off the ground and flew like a bullet to her room.

Hornet scratched his shaggy hair, sighing. "I think I'm gonna go rest now…" He started walking off when Freya got up and followed him, wrapping her thin arms around his and affectionately hugged it.

"Better times soon…" Freya said.

"…I hope so," Hornet replied softly.

Just entering Raven's room, Robin came upon the two lying in bed. Sin was still unconscious, resting peacefully from the look of it. Raven was sitting against the bedpost with Sin's head resting in her lap. She had undone his hair and it now spilled over most of her lap and legs and over the bed. In her hand was an ebony brush which she was using to comb his hair. Her own lavender hair has spilled over some of her face from looking down at the sleeping Nosferatu. The softness on her face was so serene and so…un-Raven.

"Raven?" Robin spoke softly as he closed the door behind him quietly.

She looked up at him and smiled and that smile made her face radiate with beauty. It made her eyes sparkle like stars among the deep, cool intelligence that always lingered in them. Her face almost gave off a soft glow, like moonlight, outlining what was visible around her hair. As if taking account of her hair for the first time, she stroked it back behind her ear without stopping her brush. The gesture was so elegant and smooth, as if she's done it dozens of times. In that moment he truly thought that the person in the bed with Sin wasn't Raven. This person had a different feel about her…a feeling only giving off by those that have lived for decades upon decades, the kind of feeling someone as old as Sin would give off.

"…Is it still you, Raven?" Robin whispered in awe, and deep down, worry.

She softened her smile for him and nodded. "It's still me, Robin, just not quite the old me anymore."

Robin approached the bed and sat on the side, facing her. "So you're different now?"

"Yes…and no," Raven replied with a calm, graceful shrug of her shoulders. Again, the gesture was so unlike Raven and yet very much like her. "I'm still who I was when I was born in this lifetime…but I remember old memories, things that I know I never experienced in this lifetime but ones I had in another."

"What really happened in Sin's mind?" Robin asked.

Raven told him everything. About the seven demonic Nosferatu in his mind, to meeting Little One, to witnessing the death of her old self and what it awoke in her, to meeting Shade and what he had planned for her. While she told her story, Robin remained quiet, only asking a question when he wasn't clear on something, but through it all he waited silently for her to finish. When she came to the end of her story, she gazed down at Sin and affectionately ran a finger down the line of his face. Robin watched that gesture and he couldn't stop the bitter feeling that was rising in him. He knew it was stupid of him to get angry at seeing that simply touch. But with everything that has happened since Sin came into their lives, he feared just one thing. That fear was losing Raven. He knew he truly loved her with his entire being; he could trust her with anything and never once think otherwise about it. Yet, now she wasn't just Raven anymore, she was now Cynthia…Sin's lost daughter. Thinking more on it, he berated himself for letting his fears lead to thinking that Raven was becoming more attracted to Sin and forgetting him.

Yes, he admitted to himself then. He was growing jealous of Sin lately and the way he and Raven had been acting around each other. What started his fear was Raven's persistence to have Sin drink her blood. From his own experiences, drinking blood was just too intimate a thing to simply do. It was like having sex, just without the really messy end unless you made it messy. Robin stopped himself right then. That wasn't like him to think in such a term. He focused on clearing his mind when he sensed something then…something just touching the back of his mind. He tried following it but when he made contact with whatever was touching him, it retracted like a whip away from him and it was gone before he could track it back. He then felt a warm hand grasp his elbow and it was then that he realized he was half standing on the bed now, facing toward the door. He looked back and saw Raven staring back at him with concern.

"Robin, what's wrong? You started fading out on me and weren't hearing me," Raven said worriedly.

"I…" Robin looked back at the door, blinking in confusion, then back at Raven. "I think someone just tried to mess with my head."

Raven switched then, going from serene to alert and cold, just like her old self. Seeing that made him feel better and slightly awful that he was glad to see the coldness in her return, it sickened him the more he dwelled on that thought. He pushed that thought in the back of his mind for later. Now wasn't the time to deal with that problem.

"Robin, what were you experiencing?" Raven demanded softly, seeing he was losing himself in his mind again.

He snapped back to himself and turned to her. "Someone was messing with my emotions…toying with them like they were clay and molding them into something horrible. I was feeling jealous and angry toward Sin…"

Raven raised an eyebrow and her lips thinned. "Why would they manipulate those emotions?"

"Does it matter?" Robin asked her.

"Yes, it does," Raven replied firmly, eyeing him seriously.

Robin looked away. He couldn't meet her eyes with his unshielded eyes. Were he wearing his old mask, he could have hid what were passing through them right now. Since that is not the case anymore, he had to turn his face away from her.

"Robin, answer me, please…" Raven asked gently.

"I've…been feeling them since you been asking Sin to drink your blood. I took it as too intimate a thing for someone who acted like father and daughter to do," Robin admitted to her, still not looking at her. "It then led to fear that you were thinking more about Sin…than you were of me. I was becoming afraid that you might leave me."

Raven frowned at him and reached out and stroked his face. "Robin. Don't ever think I'd ever leave you. You are the most important person in my life."

"Next to Sin," Robin added grimly.

Raven sighed softly. "Yes, Sin is also an important person in my life, but I don't hold him above you, just as I don't hold you over him. I hold you both in equal affection."

Robin looked back at her with a questionable look. "You love him just as much as you love me?"

Raven frowned some more and after a few moments, she nodded, then looked at him with that soft sparkle in her eyes again. "…I love him in a different way as I do you, but that love is just as equal." She guided a hand through Sin's hair, feeling a comforting feeling from just touch it. "I remember things that Cynthia—

no, my old self remembers. It's coming back to me few memories at a time. It's slowly clearing in my head." She gazed down at Sin with such affection. "…He blamed himself for decades for my death, Robin…He thought he could have prevented it had he gotten there faster." She gazed up at Robin with fresh tears pooling at the corners of her eyes. "I know it must be hard to understand, Robin, but he means so much to me, there's a bond there just like the one you and I share…" Her eyes flashed with memories and she choked back a gasp. "…Robin, there's something else I need to say, it involves our bond. I now know why its there."

"You do?" Robin uttered.

"…Remember the boy that Cynthia was going to marry…the blacksmith's son?" Raven said.

"Yeah, I remember him…what's he got to do with our bond?" Robin asked suspiciously.

Raven reached out and placed her hand on his forehead. "…You have to see it to understand."

The next thing that happened to Robin was his vision blurring. His mind reeled and visions past through his glowing eyes. He saw Cynthia walking down the street with the blacksmith's son, her arm slightly touching his when no eye was looking at them. Whenever she did, he'd looked back at her and smiled a charming smile, one that looked frighteningly familiar to him. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking at his own face, smiling down at Cynthia. Then there was another flash and they were sitting at the Willow…and Sin was there! He was talking to the boy, they were talking about their wedding…then he was standing on a stool next to his father and Cynthia and her mother with screaming villagers.

Raven pulled her hand away from his forehead before the rest of that memory played in his mind. She didn't want him to suffer that trauma; he had too much already in this lifetime. Robin's vision returned to reality and his eyes were blazed with so many mixed emotions.

"Raven…this is…not in my wildest dreams would I have thought…" Raven quieted him with a simple touch of her fingers on his lips.

"Don't try to think, not right now, just know that it's true," Raven said softly.

Robin was about to say something more, when something jagged his mind like a poisoned dagger, spreading venomous thoughts, trying to kill the wondrous ones. Robin rolled off the bed with his head in agony. He expected to feel the sharp pain from hitting the floor, but it never came. Someone had grabbed his shoulder in time and held him as he dangled over the bed for a moment. Along with that touch, something slithered into his mind and blanked it in a sheet of darkness, blocking out whatever was invading his mind. He opened his blood-stained eyes that he wasn't aware he had closed and found Sin sitting up from the bed, holding his shoulder and pulling him back on the bed, but he didn't let go of him.

"…S-Someone is attacking you…Robin," Sin said weakly, it seemed he was straining to keep himself up and keep his hold on Robin. "…C-Can't keep them out for long…too weak…"

Raven was quick to act. She chanted her words and her bond between her and Robin opened wide. In the darkness that Sin had created, Robin felt something absorbing the thing trying to hurt him. It devoured the poison trying to spread through his mind, drawing out of the wound it inflicted like a fast-acting salve and cleaning it. Raven cried out softly in pain, but she didn't let that stop her as she devoured the bitterness she pulled out of Robin. Soon the attacker pulled back, seeing its efforts were rendered futile. When it did, Raven tried to follow it, trailing it as far as outside the tower, to somewhere near the harbor, when it disappeared completely.

"Damn!" Raven cursed. "I lost it…but I got whoever did this as far as the harbor."

With the attack over now, Robin recovered quickly, save for his emotional state. He was angry. Angry at whoever was toying with him like a puppet, and doing it so easily to him! Robin bolted out of the room, never hearing Raven or a weak Sin call after him. He zoomed out of the tower in record breaking time and completely disregarded getting on his R-Cycle, ironic truth, it would have slowed him down. He ran down the hidden tunnel connecting to the harbor and leaped on the first building near the exit. He stalked over the roof, peering down at the streets and harbor deck, looking for the mental intruder. He scanned the entire area in less than a minute, finding no one. He almost roared in frustration when from a short distance behind him, a gunshot fire off. He spun about and charged to where he assumed the sound originated from.

He came to a clearing used to stack huge crates of cargo. The center of the clearing was opened, leaving enough space for a group of people to move around decently. Why Robin was so sure of that was that there was a group of people fighting it out. Off the side was Jesse, with her revolvers out and firing at the group, who were circling around a girl. One quick sniff and he knew they weren't normal people; they stank too badly of blood and death. Robin jumped down and landed on one of the Nosferatu's back, kicking the back of his head as he jumped off it. The Nosferatu kissed the pavement and blood spurted out of his face with a nice bone-cracking sound.

"Nice ta see ya, Robin!" Jesse smiled at him, shooting a Nosferatu in the head. "Did ya change your mind about my offer?"

"No!" Robin snapped and roundhouse kicked one Nosferatu that tried to come at him with claws. "Someone tried manipulating my emotions!" He backhanded the same Nosferatu across the face when got halfway back up. "That person is gonna pay!"

Jesse shrugged and shot one that got too close to the girl in the middle. "Save the vengeance later, kid! We's got that gal to worry about."

Robin drew his double-bladed staff and he and Jesse made short work of the remaining Nosferatu, leaving nothing but their dust left behind. The whole time Robin cursed in his head loudly, understanding that while he had been taking care of these Nosferatu, the person responsible for attacking his mind had gotten away. Too late now to fume about it. The girl was more important. He turned to the girl that had been sitting on the ground in fright the whole time…and he froze as his eyes slowly widened in shock.

The girl sitting there, staring up at him with pink eyes, a torn-up dress, and fear clearly written all over her face…was Jinx!

She bore quivering eyes on him, staring at him in disbelief. "….R-Robin!?"

Robin's mismatched eyes narrowed down as a coldness filled them. "You…"

Jinx shook like a frightened animal from his hard tone, starting to crawl away from him without taking her eyes off him. Robin found himself taking pleasure seeing her so afraid, why shouldn't he? She was his murderer, after all.

Jesse holstered her guns and strolled over to him. "Ya know this gal, Robin?"

"Yeah, I know her all right. She's the one responsible for my sudden change of view of the world," Robin snarled, baring his fangs at the pink-haired witch.

"Ah!" Jesse sighed, whistling down at the girl. "Seems you were better off with those scum, gal…Sorry, kid, but I think your luck's up."

Jinx glared at her for rhetorical remark. Robin stalked over to her slowly, gripping his weapon tightly as he stood almost completely over her. "What are you doin here?" he said with a voice dead of emotion.

"…Y-You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jinx replied, her eyes shifting to his weapon and his eyes. "…Wow, never would have imagined seeing you without your mask." she added in hopes to lighten the murderous tension in the air.

Robin hissed a growled and his hand twitch, forcing to keep his arm still from using his weapon. "If you don't answer me, Jinx, now, my face will be the last thing you see."

Jinx blinked at him, baffled, and looking slightly confident again. "Don't try being scary, Robin, and don't use bluffs. I know you're not the type of guy to follow through."

Robin's Evil Eye blazed and fired a short blast at her feet, scaring her half to death. "Things have changed since we last saw each other, Jinx. I'm not the same Robin you know."

"That's true, gal. You're looking at an authentic, true blue, Nosferatu," Jesse said, resting her arm on Robin's shoulder. "He's not like these little shit stains we took care of."

Jinx's widened even more. "…What?! You mean to say…" She stared completely afraid now at Robin. "Y-You got turned into those blood-sucking freaks?"

Robin smiled coldly at her, his red eye glowing softly as his other eye shined purple. "See the fangs."

"Oh God! You were!" Jinx cried. "…H-How did it happen?"

Robin moved as fast as lightning and grabbed the front of her torn shirt, lifting her easily off the ground and bringing her close to his face, baring his fangs at her. "You did! You were the one that killed me, or nearly succeeded, anyway!"

"…Y-You mean, when whoever knocked me out was a vampire!?" Jinx deduced shakily, clutching at his wrist.

"Nosferatu, kid," Jesse corrected, smiling fiendishly. "But I guess it won't matter in a few minutes."

"What?!" Jinx shrieked, she squirmed wildly to try and get out of Robin's grip. "Y-You wouldn't kill me? You're the damn good guy!"

"…A good guy…Yeah, I still am," Robin replied, slightly averting his eyes, but then he tightened his hold on her shirt and inched his face toward hers. "…But I'm also a Nosferatu and that side wants to rip your damn throat out after I impale you, just like how you impaled me to that pillar."

"….L-Look, Robin…that's why I'm here…I-I…wanted to make that up to you!" Jinx squeaked.

"Make it up to me?!" Robin roared. "How the hell you plan on making up for trying to kill me?!"

"…Er, umm…apologize?!" Jinx said sheepishly.

Robin glared at her menacingly. "You better tell me the real reason you're here, Jinx."

"…Honest, Robin…that was the truth!" Jinx stated. "I really just came to apologize!"

Jesse stroked Robin's arm, leaning close to rest her chin on his shoulder. She smiled amusedly at Jinx and inched her face closer to his ear. "Just go ahead and kill her, Robin. Nobody is gonna miss this little runt. She's the one that almost killed you, after all? Don't you want to make her pay?"

Robin could feel his fangs itching to sink in Jinx's neck. He wanted her to experience the same anguish she caused him, the same fear of losing everything, including life.

Jesse must have sensed his desire. She started running her hands over his shoulder, pressing her front against his back suggestively, purring in his ear. "Go on, Robin…this will be our little secret, just ours…"

Robin was feeling torn. On one hand, he was angry that someone tried playing him like a flute, then he loses whoever was responsibly, and now, he found the person responsible for his state. He hated her for it. Yes, his life did become better than it had, but he couldn't let go the anger he had for Jinx for almost killing him and robbing him of everyone dear to him. Had she succeeded and Sin had not intervened when he did, she would have killed him right out in cold blood. She was murderer, a heartless psychopath…just like Slade!

Robin lunged at Jinx with his fangs at her neck. He had just touched her skin when a red and yellow blur appeared at his side and crashing into him. Robin and Jesse landed on their sides, groining from the unexpected action. Jesse quickly jumped to her feet, pulling out her gun. "What in Sam-Hell was that!?"

"Me," an energetic, confident voice said.

Robin gazed up at a young guy dressed in a red and yellow spandex outfit; the yellow covered his torso and neck, and the attacked mask at covered most of his head, leaving an opening on top for his red hair, his mouth, and his eyes. Red adorned the spandex he wore as pants and gloves and his boots, with a red lightning bolt striking over his chest.

"Name's Kid Flash, and that's my girlfriend you're messing with," Kid Flash stated, crossing his arms with a overconfident smirk on his face.

"Kid Flash?!" Robin repeated. "You're one of the Titan candidates Bumblebee picked out...What the hell are you doing with Jinx!?"

"Funny story, actually. I was making my way to Jump City when I saw her running away from the city with some weird robed guys chasing her," Kid Flash replied, scratching the back of his neck. "Course, with my amazing speed, I was able to save the pretty lady." He winked at Jinx. "It was only after that did I realize who see was, but that wouldn't have had any difference to me anyway. I can't leave any girl that looks so beautiful to be in trouble. Since then I've been keeping her safe…and well…we kinda hit if off."

Robin picked himself up and helped Jesse back to her feet, dusting himself off and glaring at the speedster. "Yeah, Bumblebee warned me that you were a womanizer…just never thought your tastes would run for someone like Jinx."

Kid Flash shrugged his shoulders. "From what I see so do you…" His eyes looking at Jesse.

Robin snapped at him. "So you know, Jesse is a friend who is helping us with the 'unique' problem we're having."

"Yeah, friends. Listen, Robin, I know we just met but I gotta say. You really shouldn't live in denial, man. She's a hottie! Don't keep pretending," Kid Flash smirked.

Jesse laughed and holstered her gun. "I like this kid."

Robin looked ready to kill. "…My personal life is not your business."

"Come on, man! I'm just playing with you. Lighten up!" Kid Flash laughed. "Geez, I heard you were too serious, I never thought that was true until now."

"Whatever you've heard of me you best not believe it," Robin warned, stalking up to the speedster. "Because I'm not the same Robin everyone knows."

"Yeah, I saw that right before I knocked you on your ass," Kid Flash stated, nervously smiling at Robin.

Robin flashed him a wicked version of his own. "That won't happen again. I assure you."

"Oh?" Kid Flash mused. "I think you might be underestimating yourself, pal. I'm the Fastest Boy Alive. No one can match my speed!"

Something flashed over Robin's eyes then as an idea popped in his head. "Want to put that to the test?"

Kid Flash narrowed one eye at him. "What kind of test…?"

Robin began slowly walking around Kid Flash, crossing his arms over his chest as he did. "A test of reflexes and agility. It's really simple. You seem to want to help that murderer over there."

Kid Flash spun around to fast him with one clinched fist. "Hey! She's not a murderer! She'd never do something like that!"

Now it was Robin's turn to say. "Oh?" He gazed over at Jinx, taking pleasure when she flinched under his gaze. "She never told you about our last encounter?"

Kid Flash shifted nervously on his feet, leaning his weight on one foot. "Heh…well, I really never asked her about her past. I thought it best to wait till she just told me when she wanted."

Robin locked his eyes on Kid Flash, coming to a halt and bore at him with glowing eyes. "Then I'll enlighten you."

"Robin! Please! I'll tell him myself…!" Jinx pleaded was halted when Robin glared at her from the corner of his eye.

Bringing his gaze back to Kid Flash, Robin tapped over the top on his chest-plate where his heart was. "When last I saw her, she impaled five steel bars in me, one of them practically through my heart, then almost planted a sixth bar in me to finish me off. Thankfully, someone came to help me, but I still was fatally wounded and would have died that night had the same person who saved me not been there."

Kid Flash looked paled for a moment. "…B-But you survived. You're standing right here, aren't you?"

"No, I didn't survive…not alive that is," Robin smirked, finding enjoyment when Kid Flash's face paled even more. "I did die that night, Kid Flash, but I came back as something else…"

"Wait!" Kid Flash shouted, waving his arms before him. "You're saying your dead?!"

"Undead, actually," Robin correctly. "I'm Nosferatu, Kid Flash…a vampire."

Kid Flash looked about to pass out right then, but then he seemed to recover and quickly burst into laughter. "Vampire? Hah, hah! Right, and I'm the Easter bunny!"

Robin narrowed stern eyes at him. "This isn't a joke, Kid Flash…and I can prove it."

Kid Flash wiped a tear from his eye. "What, you're gonna drink tomato juice to prove it? Hah, hah, hah!"

A wide, demented smile crossed over Robin's face and his head slowly turned to Jinx. "No, I'm gonna drink her blood."

Kid Flash stopped laughing in a heartbeat. "What?! Whoa! That's sick man!"

"Then stop me!" Robin challenged, and faster than even the Fastest Boy Alive could even react, he lunged at Jinx.

Kid Flash hollered at him and speeded toward Robin and caught him just a split second before he had gotten Jinx. He spun on his right heel and threw Robin away, using his own momentum to do the task, and planted himself between Robin and Jinx. "What the hell is your problem, Robin?! For that matter, how did you get that fast?"

Robin flipped in the air and landed on his feet like a graceful feline and stood up calmly. "This is your test, Kid Flash. You simply need to keep me away from Jinx, and if you can do that, then I'll let you join the Titans and I'll leave Jinx alone."

"Hey! I didn't plan on joining the Titans if this is what you guys are like!" Kid Flash growled.

"What's so different about this situation from any other?" Robin remarked, shrugging his shoulders. "It's what we all do. We keep the bad guys from hurting the innocent. I'm just seeing if you are able to keep someone safe."

"And if I lose?" Kid Flash asked skeptically.

He wished he hadn't asked that when he saw Robin's eyes glow and match his demented smile. "If you lose…then I get my payback on Jinx and you…well, who knows. Maybe Superboy will let you join Young Justice."

Kid Flash glared at him angrily. "This isn't right! You're definitely not the Robin I've heard and even respected once."

Robin pointed at Jinx. "You can thank her for that."

"Stop blaming her for what happened to you!" Kid Flash shouted. "She couldn't have known you'd become this way!"

"No, but she didn't have to nearly kill me just to get away," Robin stated calmly, drawing his double-bladed staff again. "So, this is your chance to help her, Kid Flash….help her from letting my thirst for revenge get her!"

Robin disappeared from sight, or it would have seemed like that to anyone, but to Kid Flash's eyes, Robin was just moving extremely fast. He stepped to the side just in time to dodge Robin's staff from impaling him and backhanded it away and punched at Robin. Robin caught the fist as fast as Kid Flash threw it and tossed him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing. Kid Flash crashed against one of the crates and fumbled to the ground. He quickly recovered and jumped to his feet in the blink of an eye, rolling back just as Robin planted his weapon where he once stood. Kid Flash flipped back to his feet and dashed at Robin and kicked him in his side. The blow never hurt Robin since his body was tougher than it once was, he simply let the kick get him and wrapped his hand around the ankle and swung Kid Flash again. Kid Flash reacted instantly, he vibrated his molecules until his body built enough friction, that Robin was forced to let go of him when he was too hot to hold.

Kid Flash flipped in the air before he touched the ground on his feet, and then began spinning his arms rapidly in front of him, creating two miniature tornados that bashed Robin against the crates, pinning him there. "I'm not gonna stop until you surrender, Robin!"

Robin groaned from the pain and tried forcing himself off the crate, but the wind Kid Flash generated just pushed him further into the metal. He tried to think of a way to get out of this situation, when his eyes landed on Jinx, who was staring at him. Looking at her reminded of him of that night they fought, when he was pinned to that pillar so helplessly, losing life by the second and hope…

The memory brought on a surge of hatred and it grew and grew till it pained his very being. Thankfully, someone had blessed him with a way to expel that hatred. He locked his Evil Eye on Kid Flash.

Kid Flash thought he had him until he saw Robin's purple eye glow eerily just before it fired a beam at him. Were it not for his speed he wouldn't have made the dodge he pulled off just in the nick of time. The move saved him but it forced him to stop his miniature tornados, freeing Robin and allowing him to retaliate back again. He aimed his eye on Kid flash. It burned threateningly and caused blood to pour freely from his eye. At the last second, he stopped it and forced the power back; he didn't want to kill Kid Flash by accident with it, though he could feel the urge pulling at him, trying to egg him to kill. He forced that growing urge back as he had the energy in his eye and drew out two Birdarangs.

Kid Flash recovered his balance and dashed at Robin at full speed, ramming him in the gut with a fist. The blow forced Robin off-balanced and uppercut him in the jaw. Kid Flash's fists ached like crazy! If he didn't know any better, he thought he was punching at real rock or metal! To Robin those blows were minor, merely making him disorientated, forcing him to withdraw to reorient himself with the speedster. It took him just as fast as the Kid Flash to re-lock on him and throw his Birdarangs in his direction.

Kid Flash scoffed at the flying projectiles and side-stepped to dodge them. "Were you actually hoping to hit me with those slow things?"

"Not at all!" Robin growled as he grinned fiendishly, looking past him.

Kid Flash caught the look and he spun around and saw that the Birdarangs were heading straight at Jinx. The young speedster dashed over to her and picked her up and moved her just in time. The Birdarangs struck into the crates harmlessly and vibrated from the sudden halt.

Kid Flash glared at the Fallen Wonder. "Are you insane?! That would have hurt her!" His outrage died when he saw the maniacal expression on Robin's face.

"That's was the point," Robin replied, grinning more wildly. "This is a test, remember? To keep her safe from me. What you'll be facing will be ten times worse than me, and none of them will hold back on anything in order to kill you or your teammates."

"This isn't right, Robin…I didn't sign up to become a Titan if it meant be led by a psycho!" Kid Flash retorted.

"Isn't right?!" Robin roared. He moved and was gone from sight, reappearing right up in Kid Flash's face and backhanded across his face.

The force of the blow threw Kid Flash on his rear and away from Jinx, who he let go unintentionally when Robin struck him.

"You think people like Slade, or Brother Blood, or Nosferatu will care?" Robin snared, stalking over to him, kicking him in the face. "You think they will think twice about holding back if it will mean they can win?" Robin picked the stunned speedster up by the front of his suit and lifted him up over his head. "No! They'll be merciless! If you thought when you first put that costume on that you'd be fighting petty criminals you've seen on cartoons, then you're dumber than you look!" His fist shot up and punched Kid Flash in the gut, forcing a gasp of pain from him.

"Stop it!" Jinx cried. "Don't hurt him!" Her eyes blazed and she waved a hand and shot her hex energy under Robin, causing the ground to crumble under him.

Robin pivoted from the spot before he fell. "You, shut up!" Robin growled and his eye glowed and fired a beam right in front of her, leaving a smoldering hole just an inch from her right leg, glaring at her hatefully.

He shouldn't have looked away, because then he would have seen the anger in Kid's Flash eyes and his vibrating fist he raised and punched him in the face. Robin screamed in agony and let go of Kid Flash and stumbled back, clutching his face when the layer of skin over his left cheek melted off from the friction Kid Flash had generated in his fist.

Kid Flash panicked from what he did. "Robin! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to let it go so far…R-Robin—!"

He halted when he saw Robin turn his head slowly in his direction. The expression on his face was no longer human. His eyes were blazing with murder, more so in his Evil Eye, and his lips were pulled back in a feral snarl, fangs lengthened, and what skin was left on his face stretched too tightly over his skull, giving him the look of a beast. Around his wound, embers of ashen flesh crumbled to dust, exposing his jaw muscles and a small glimpse of his molars.

"That was a big mistake…" Robin growled lowly. He raised his hand up to his wound and the tips of his fingers darkened as shadowy material appeared around them. He caressed his wound with them, digging them in until he put the ember, ashen flesh out and wiped the ash off, and where his fingers touched, soft new muscle tissue grew and skin waxed over to conceal the muscles. His fingers danced over the wound, circling around it and sealing the wound, leaving perfect, flawless skin in their wake.

Kid Flash gasped and stumbled a step away from Robin. "…What the hell?"

"It's like I told you, Kid Flash," Robin replied maniacally. "I'm Undead, a Nosferatu…a monster that that person." He glared at Jinx heatedly. "Created when she killed me."

"T-This is too unreal," Kid Flash fumbled, inching closer to Jinx. "I think we made a big mistake coming here, Jinx."

"No...We didn't," Jinx murmured. "I had to see him…"

Robin raised one eyebrow and cupped his hand over his left ear. "Pardon? Speak up. I don't think I heard you right? It sounded like you wanted to see me."

Jinx met his hate filled eyes. "I did, Robin. I can't ask you to forgive what I did to you. I admit, that night, I fully intended to kill you…but I didn't understand what I was really doing. I though if I did, I'd get more respect from Slade and the Headmaster…but I was wrong."

"What, you didn't get a button with a golden star on it, or an approving pat on the head?" Robin sneered.

Jinx clinched her fists on her mini-skirt, looking as if she was fighting back tears. "You…you don't know what happened to me after Slade got Gizmo, Mammoth, and me out of jail again…You can't imagine what he did to me for almost killing you…"

Some of his anger began fleeting away. He didn't want it to go. It was easier to be angry at her than feeling sorry for her now. He snarled at himself and at her. "Get to the point of your _sad_ story!"

"I am!" Jinx shouted at him, tears now freely pouring down her face.

Kid Flash kneeled down next to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Jinx, you don't need to tell the likes of him this."

She shook her head. "No, I have to tell him! If I'm really the one responsible for what he became then he of all people needs to hear this."

Robin snorted and folded his arms over his chest, clinching his fists tightly. "Well, I'm here. Get on with it."

Jinx sobbed once and then wiped her fresh tears away. "He tortured me, Robin! He re-broke my ribs and my arm when he first saw me…and he didn't stop there." She rose up her arms and hugged herself. "He did so many unspeakable things to me when he thought I had killed you. I called for my teammates to help me, I pleaded for their help…but Gizmo and Mammoth…They…They just turned their backs on me and walked away." She looked again in his eyes. "You can't understand what I felt to see who I thought were my friends just leave me like that!"

To his surprise, Robin looked away from the pain he found in her eyes, the hopeless loss she experienced, the anguish of what had been done to her to make her once menacing eyes look dead to him. He wanted his anger back so badly now. He wanted to hate her for what she did to him, wanted a reason to stop feeling so bad for her.

Jinx continued and it didn't help him become angry again with her. "...Later on, when he found out you were alive, he stop torturing me and just left me in a cell. He just forgot me like discarded trash and left me to rot in that cell for days. But then he let me go…only because Brother Blood demanded all his students to be handed back to him. I thought, I was safe again when I returned to the H.I.V.E academy. I was willing to forgive Gizmo and Mammoth for leaving me if I could just see them again." Her voice cracked as another sob came out of her. "But they avoided me…said I would just cause them trouble if Slade saw me with them. They thought he might do to them what he did to me, and then…Oh God, then Brother Blood went crazy and went after all the students! He caged them like animals and took them away. I don't know what became of them after that. I just knew I had to get away before he got me, too. So I ran away from H.I.V.E. Academy…alone and nowhere to go…All I had was the Academy, my friends…" He broke out crying again. "I don't know if Gizmo or Mammoth got away! I can't stop worrying if they got caught and went the same way as the other students!"

Robin grimaced as he stared at the ground, biting on his bottom lip in frustration. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be the bad guy not a victim. It would have been easy to just think she was lying to him to trick him for whatever reason, but he knew too well she wasn't. Her heartbeat didn't flittered when she talked; her emotions were rolling off her in waves too much, just like a victims'…

In all truth, he didn't want to know what Slade did to her to turn her into this pathetic person on the ground crying like a broken soul. But he knew Slade too well. Only he could do something like this to a person like Jinx, to anyone for that matter.

He sighed and with it all his hostility toward her fleeted away. He looked pointedly at Kid Flash. "You pass…Come on, Help her up and we'll take her to Titans Tower."

"What do you plan on doing to her there?" Kid Flash asked suspiciously.

"First off…get her warm and safe," Robin replied, and then moved to go retrieve his double-bladed staff and put it back in his Utility belt. "Then get her some food, she looks skinner than normal, even for her."

Kid Flash gaped at him. "Was that a joke?"

Robin grunted as he grinned at him. "Best one I could think of at the moment…" He walked back to them and gazed down at Jinx. "I haven't forgiven you, Jinx…not right now…but if you try anything, or are in fact up to something, I will kill you. We understand each other?"

She jerked her head as she nodded, clinging to Kid Flash as he picked her up.

"Whoa! Hold on there! Ya just gonna believe her and help her out? After what she did to ya, ya gonna show her mercy!?" Jesse gaped at him.

Robin narrowed his eyes in her direction. "That's what we Titans do. We help anyone we can…" He glanced back at Jinx. "…Even if we don't like it."

"Ya can't—!" Jesse was silenced when Robin's eyes glowed.

"You're not a Titan. I decide who goes in and out of the Tower," Robin said in a calm, too calm, voice. "Is that understood?"

Jesse gulped. "S-Sure then…"

Robin looked away from her and stuffed his hands in his pockets and began walking away. "Follow me, Flash. I'll show you the tunnel we use to get to and from the island."

"The name's Kid Flash! And I can get to the island my own way," Kid Flash said, then picked Jinx up off her feet, holding her bridal style, and speeded off toward the island, running clear over the water with no problem.

Jesse whistled and scratched her head. "Dang! That kid is fast! Even Jesus couldn't move that fast on water! Hah, hah!"

Her joke was unnoticed by Robin. He stalked back to his R-cycle and revved it up and roared back toward the Tower.

Inside Stefan's manor, the necromancer sat in his seat by the dead fireplace. He sensed a presence long before it crossed the threshold of his land. He waited patiently and did nothing as the person who was making his way to his manor. The person made it through the manor door and up the flight of stairs that and down the hallways that would lead to the room that Stefan resided in. Before the person made it through the door, Stefan turned his head in the direction of the door.

"Were you successful?" Stefan demanded.

"Yes, my lord…" the person said, coming fully into the room and kneeling down both knees next to Stefan's chair. "The boy is not as mentally strong as his Sire or his demon lover…even if he sensed me, he could not track or find me once I pulled away from him…I believe that you were right in assuming he will be the weak chain to strike against Sin."

"Of course I was right," Stefan snorted, disgruntled by his servant's lack of faith in his genius. He let it go this one time, this servant was far too valuable to punish or kill…right now. "Continue with your mission." Stefan quickly replied. "Keep assaulting the boy whenever possible, break his confidence with Sin and the half-breed."

"I will do my best, my lord…but my lord…once I've done so….what about?"

Stefan silenced the servant with a stern glare. "You will receive your reward…if you accomplish your task, only then will you receive what I promised you…not before. Remember this."

The servant bowed to him and slowly stood up and retreated back to the door, leaving the room, the manor, and swiftly returning to Jump City. Stefan relaxed in his chair, resting his elbows on the chair and intertwining his fingers together, chuckling coldly to himself.

"Quite indeed…everything is falling into place…not even you Sin will know what hit you before it is too late," Stefan mused. "…Soon all you own, what everyone owns, will be mine to craft…or destroy."

A/N: I sincerely apologize for the length of time that it took to update this chapter. Over the spring and summer, I have had family problems, such as the sudden strokes that has happened to my grandfather, leaving his health poorly. As such, my family and I have moved him and my grandmother into our home to tend to him. So I please ask for everyone to understand with the recent choices I have made…

I am putting a halt to all my fanfics, save for Scarlet Embrace and Raven in Wonderland. I cannot put anymore time in them, and decided to finish them one at a time…save for Raven in Wonderland, as I have a co-writer for that one. I know people have been looking forward to reading the updates for my other fanfic…and if so you know, if I'm struck with enough inspiration and time, I plan to try and update them when possible, if not, then I will be focusing on Scarlet Embrace and Raven in Wonderland, nothing else.


	29. Chapter 29

Disclaimer: I don't own or claim any rights to Teen Titans. They are the rightful property of Cartoon Network and DC Comics. Rightful, and only claim, is to the plot and the following OCs: Sin, Lynx, Stefan, Grimm, Freya, Hornet, Jesse, and Ruby. Desdemona Aimee Graves belongs solely to Grave_of_Desdemona.

A/N: Surprisingly, I've managed to work on this new chapter in record-breaking time…for me…XD. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed my last chapter, and for your patience and understanding of my situation. Now then, to those of you who have reviewed; here is my reply: Yes, this story is going to be a long one, and in fact will have two sequels following after it. To those who have PMed me, I don't get on MSN very much…and I'm not fond of using it, I prefer AIM or YIM, but you'll have more luck with find me on AIM than any other, and sorry for not contacting you if I haven't already…haven't had time to reply to them, but I will say to the one that asked…Red X will be appearing in this story shortly.

I remember someone asking me how I come up with my titles for my chapters…To tell the truthful, I have no idea myself, they just pop in my head when I start on them. Lol. And someone else asked me about Kitten…well, sadly, she's gonna remain what she is…unless someone has an interesting idea as to what can be done with her, I'm all ears…figurative speaking, of course. Alrightie, I think that's enough chatting for now, let's continue with the story.

 **Fallen Angels**

He tapped an envelop on his desk while staring at his colleagues who watched him patiently. They had all gathered at his word when he received the envelop he now tapped on his desk, with a message that infuriated him. He should be talking to the men that had come at his word, tell them what he had just summoned them for, but instead he reread the contents of the letter that was in the envelop again, then again, and then once again. The men made no move to push him to speak; each one of them knew their patience will be rewarded when their fellow colleague chose to speak to them. After reading the letter one more time, he stopped tapping and put the letter down and looked up at them.

"Brothers…do you know of the crisis happening in the United States?" he said while meeting each of their eyes. "Of the hell that has befallen one of their cities?"

"Do you speak of the darkness that is consuming Jump City?" one of them spoke, rising his eyes to meet his. "Yes, we are all aware of the plague that is contaminating it."

"What does this have to do with us, brother?" another asked. "Surely we care not what happens to the heretics in the United States."

"You are right, we don't," he said. "…But this letter admits to a crime that we cannot ignore." He met there eyes once more with more intensity in them. "A few weeks ago we received a notice from a man…a terrorist known as Slade…he contacted our brothers in America and warned them of the demons that have nested in Jump City. The next night…they sent a squad of crusaders to cleanse the city." He fisted his hands and slammed them on his desk and stood up. "They were slaughtered! Massacred by not just any scum of the devil! My brothers…they were killed by the Nosferatu who this very organization was formed to destroy!"

"You don't mean…!" another said, standing along with his brothers. "…Him?"

"The very same!" he shouted, slamming a hand over the letter. "This letter was sent to our brothers saying that the squad was killed by him and he sent their remains back to us…as a warning! A warning to stay out of Jump City and to never come after him again…"

"Surely, our brothers sent more?" the same colleague assumed.

"No, none of our brothers are aware or know of…Him…They were merely stationed in America to be eyes and ears for us. There was no need for them to know, until now…now that our greatest enemy and his damned heathen kind have immigrated to the west."

"Why are they going overseas to America?" one of the colleagues who hadn't said anything till now asked.

"We do not know…but from our brothers who watch the city, they have reported that the Nosferatu seem to be converging on one point, an island resting in the bay of the city…with a T-shaped tower occupied by a group of young vigilante, self-claimed 'heroes', called the Teen Titans," he said, sitting back down in his chair, as did the rest in their seats. "We also have reports seeing, Him, leaving and entering their tower, leaving us to believe they have been tainted with his evil and are his minions now."

"Why haven't our brothers begun destroying them then?" one spoke up, leaning forward in his seat. "If these Titans are in league with our greatest enemy, then they must be annihilated!"

"All in good time, my brother. But the reason we have stayed our hand was to see wait and discover more information, this letter being one among other reports that had just been recently sent here," he informed them, picking up the said letter and showing them once more. "Of what we now know, the Nosferatu have been fighting amongst themselves, killing themselves as all things evil will do to itself…when giving time." He put the letter back in the envelop it came in and moved to the fireplace, that already had a roaring fire burning, in his office and flung the offensive thing in it and watched it burn to ash…wishing the thing that wrote the letter would burn to ash along with it… "At first, it was my intention to just let the beasts kill each other until none were left...but now that I know that 'He' is there also, we cannot continue with that plan. This will be our chance, our only chance, to strike him down!"

"Why now, brother? Surely, we will have other opportunities now that we know his location, why now of all times?" the first colleague asked him.

He turned back to his fellow Night Crusaders. "Because…now, we now have the perfect weapon to smite him…and now, with all the undead converging around him, dying around him and potentially weakening him, forcing him to exert all his strength with the continuous fighting…this is our only chance!"

"…By weapon, I assume you are referring to our brightest light of hope," the second colleague started to assume.

He nodded at him. "Yes, brothers…I fully intend to send our agent, our holy light and sword, to America and wipe out 'him' and all the heretics and all the undead abominations once and for all."

The third colleague folded his arms into his robes. "…Does he know of the situation, brother?"

He turned to stare at the third colleague. "He was told all he needed to know. I have already sent him to America to bring judgment upon the evil dwelling there." All of them gasped and looked to say more but were quickly silenced by the look in his eyes. "Pray, brothers…pray that by dawn tomorrow, our true mission will at last be fulfilled and those who 'he' has killed can finally rest in peace in God's Grace…"

"…In God's Grace," they all said in devoted unison.

Day time had once again shined over Jump City and this time, the people awoke to different news instead of more reports of simple vampire attacks…The news blazed with the reports of Brother Blood and his new cybernetic cult who have been the true culprits to the city's misfortune and increase in death tolls. The police had just 'discovered' new evidence leading to Brother Blood having arranged the abduction of the city's youth and converting them into murderous cyborgs. With the Mayor permission, the media was allowed to broadcast this news to the rest of the worried world. Hopefully, this would keep the people from suspecting the real truth that was plaguing Jump City…if nothing more than another week or so.

Not for one, though. He had just arrived to Jump City and was currently reading a newspaper he picked up once he had gotten off his plane. A slight frown pulled at the corner of his mouth as he read the facts that he who to be utterly false facts. Finishing the paper, he crumbled it up and tossed it in the nearest trash bin, strolling to where his contacts had assigned him a hotel to use until his business was completed. There he set his large briefcase, containing all his equipment on the bed, and pulled a chair over to the open window to the scene of the rising sun. He sat in the chair and watched the sun rise up high into the sky and gazed down at the brightened city, and soon, his eyes landed on the tower that stood on the tiny island near the harbor. He gazed at it for a long time, unblinking, contemplating the best course of action. Any wise hunter would have used the daylight hours to his full advantage and stormed into the tower and purged the evil while their greatest weakness was about in the sky…but he wanted to see what kind of evil had truly gripped the city, he needed to know the full extent of its infection before he could move to make an accurate strike to cleanse the city…even if that might include the entire city had to be purified, it would be done all in the name of God...and no mercy would be shown to any who sided with the evil ones…no one…

Earlier in Titans Tower, Raven had helped Sin lay back down on the bed. He had tried bolting after Robin when he suddenly collapsed to the ground. He was still too weak from everything he endured. Once on the bed, he was asleep once more. She called the others and alerted them that Robin had gone out to find the attacker and went back to Sin. There was no way she would leave him alone while he was so weak and helpless, two traits she never would have believed to see from him. His body had completely recovered, it was just his mind and spirit that was still in repair from the trauma he under took. That alone would kill a lesser person, but not Sin, he was just too strong, or so Raven believed was the reason, hoped that was the reason.

She pushed her doubt to the back of her mind…having to get Bravery to throw her in the labyrinth and have Timid keep her from getting out.

Then she took a few quick moments to run to the Infirmary and retrieve a few blood packs for Sin to drink when he regained consciousness again. Setting them down on the stand next to her bed, she sat back down next to him and fixed his long hair so it pooled on the side of his head instead of everywhere under him, a habit her old self had liked doing to keep his hair from knotting and getting shaggy on him. Out once more came the brush and she worked on combing his long hair back out, feeling a sense of calm once more as she worked on his hair.

She watched his sleeping expression and worried for him. If he didn't get a hold of those other Nosferatu in his mind, then who knows what could happen…what would happen if just one of them took control of Sin and used his body? After seeing what each of them was like; neither one of them would be good if they did obtain control.

Sighing, she worked on straightening his hair and even thought it might be a good idea to braid it for the hell of it, when she heard a loud commotion coming from where she suspected the common room. How did she know? Well, it was either imagination or it was Starfire's raging voice that was shaking the tower. Sighing more, she put the brush down and got off the bed, then left her room after making sure her room wouldn't let any sunlight shine in, then she left and levitated quickly to the common room. Upon entering she found Lynx and Cyborg trying in vain to hold Starfire back from someone. As she moved further into the room she spotted who the person it was that Starfire seemed to want to get her hands on…Jinx.

"What is she doing here?" Raven asked with sudden coldness.

"Kid Flash brought her here!" Cyborg grunted, having locked both his massive arms around Starfire's more petite, thin arm, and looking as if he was about to bust a bolt or a strain what muscles he had felt.

"We were about to ask him why he brought her here when Starfire came in and saw her!" Beast Boy added, looking confused as to what to do.

"Let me go! That person is Robin's killer!" Starfire roared, her eyes ablaze with emerald fury. It looked like she was going to use her eye beams, and might have, were Kid Flash not using himself as a human shield to protect Jinx.

"What the hell is the matter with you all!?" Kid Flash demanded heatedly. "First Robin tries sucking her blood, now Starfire is trying to rip her apart!"

"Rip her apart?" Raven repeated, then looked at Starfire's hands and found her nails had lengthened into deadly red claws. "Did she scratch Jinx?" It was more of out of curiosity than concern.

"No!" Lynx strained, digging his feet into the carpet and wrestling with Starfire's other arm. "I tackled her before she got one claw in her…Damn, she strong!" he said when Starfire tried shaking them off, nearly succeeding.

Raven walked past them and up to Kid Flash and Jinx. "Where's Robin?"

"He's probably coming back right now. He still at the harbor when we came here," Kid Flash said, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. "Why are you guys so bloodthirsty?"

Raven grinned suddenly and a glimmer of red flash over her eyes, then went back to her normal lavender shade. "You really don't want me to answer that, Kid Flash…you really don't."

"Fine…then tell me why you wanna hurt Jinx?" Kid Flash gulped, looking very scared of the empath now.

"Because she killed Robin!" Starfire shouted, snarling like a wild animal.

Raven gestured for her to calm down with a waving gesture of her hand. "I'll handle this, Star…now calm down before you let yourself get wild again…"

Starfire stopped struggling immediately, much to both Cyborg and Lynx relief, and looked away with shame in her eyes.

Raven turned back to Kid Flash. "Now then." Her cold, emotionless eyes landed on Jinx. "As to why pretty much all of us want to see Jinx pay is because she killed Robin."

"When I last saw him he looked fine…fucking scary…but up and kicking," Kid Flash remarked darkly.

Raven wanted to grin again but refrained this time. "He was killed. That night when he and Jinx fought, she practically stabbed his heart and murdered him…but thankfully, someone who had an interest in Robin was there in time to save him."

"Yeah, into some goddamn bloodsucking freak," Kid Flash sneered hatefully.

Everyone in that room, including Kid Flash himself, wished he hadn't had said that…

Raven began emitting her black and white ridged aura around her and her eyes darkened to crimson red, and she seemed to grow three feet taller, and the room appeared to be darkening around her. "Never talk about Robin like that again…"

Kid Flash had a look on his face that said clearly to them all that he was about to wet his tights. "…Y-Yes ma'am…"

Raven immediately shrunk back to her normal size, but her eyes still remained red. "We've had too much happen to us lately to deal with your ignorance, Kid Flash. What's more…we don't plan on letting that person…" she pointed at Jinx. "Go unpunished for…"

"It's okay, Raven. I told him to bring her here…" Robin said as he entered the common room.

Everyone turned to him. Raven's eyes returned to normal and she dropped her accusing hand. "You did?"

Robin walked over to her and nodded. "I did. And I expect everybody here to leave her be…she's had a rough time after what happened between us, and I'm willing to give her a second chance."

Raven regarded him for some time, then shrugged and looked as if she really didn't care. "All right."

"All right!?" Starfire roared, her eyes once again blazing. "Robin! Jinx is the one that nearly took you away from m—us!"

Robin glanced at Starfire, feeling his old spark for her…and hers for him…flickering briefly. He understood why she was angry…and he wished he could be just as angry as her right now toward Jinx all the more.

"I know what she did, Star. Remember? I was the one she killed, I was there," Robin retorted emptily. "But…if I don't give her a second chance, then I'd be nothing more than the same monsters stalking our city, Star."

Starfire bit her lip in frustration and clutched her fists as she tried to suppress her anger, a feat that was harder than it normally was for her. She wanted to tear into Jinx, rip her limbs off and sink her hands in her chest and let her feel her claws tear up her heart, as Jinx had done to Robin. Watch as the light in her eyes deemed before she sank her teeth into her…! Starfire visibly jerked her head and turned her back to everything, hiding her face in her hands and shaking badly.

"What the hell is her deal?" Jinx grumbled.

Lynx flattened his ears and his eyes narrowed at the pink sorceress. "She's getting close to her first full moon…she got infected with a leopard strand of lycanthropy."

"Lycanthropy? That's like another name for werewolves, not leopards," Jinx said smugly.

Lynx spoke again with a low growl in the back of his throat. "…Lycanthropy is the technical term for anyone that's infected with a shape-shifting disease…since werewolves are more infectious than most other animal strands, it's commonly mistaken."

"Oh…my bad," Jinx murmured in embarrassment.

Lynx snorted in distain and pulled Starfire to a corner of the room and whispered things too low for any of them to hear, save for Robin, but he chose to ignore it to let the two have their moment.

"Don't think I'm going to let her off that easily, guys," Robin said, walking over to Jinx and folding his arms over his chest. "I expect her to pay back everything she's done to the city and everyone…by becoming a Titan."

"What!?" came from everyone.

Robin ignored their bewildered outburst.

Jinx stormed up to Robin. "I never said I wanted to join your group of losers!"

Robin's eyes glowed. "Jinx, I'm trying to give you a way to redeem yourself…but if you don't give a damn…not even to try, then I guess everything you said to me back at the harbor was a lie."

Jinx shrunk under his fierce stare. "Okay…I guess I can give it a shot."

"Good," Robin grunted and turned his back to her. "Now…I'm off to bed…I'm tired. Cyborg, see that Jinx has everything she needs….oh…" He grinned to himself and looked over his shoulder at his metallic friend. "Let her stay in Terra's old room."

"Hey, but isn't…Oww! Raven! What's the big time on step on my toe—!" He cried out again when Raven stomped her heel on his other foot.

Raven just shrugged and gave him an innocent look and started following Robin out. "Don't know what you mean. I'm gonna rest, too…nobody disturb me…" She ended the sentence with a cold glare at everyone.

"You know…just when I thought she was gonna be more touchy-feely, she reverts back to same-old, ice-queeny self," Beast Boy muttered, then ended up face over on the ground when Raven shot up behind him and roundhouse kicked him over the head.

"What was that remark?" Raven snapped, a vein twitching over her left eyebrow.

"…N-Nothing! Oooowwwww…." Beast Boy moaned, cradling his head in agony.

"That's what I thought," Raven growled and stalked out of the common room with Robin.

Kid Flash was left stand stupefied. "What the hell is up with those two!? Do you always put up with that?"

Cyborg shrugged. "You'll get used to it. Wait till you meet Sin…now he's the one to really watch out for."

"Sin?!" both Jinx and Kid Flash uttered in confusion.

Cyborg led them off to give them their rooms. Not even two seconds before Jinx comes running out screaming about a dead body in her bed. Cyborg had to stifle a laugh and told her it was one of the Nosferatu that was helping them out. Jinx had started to protest about having to share a room with a vampire, but when Cyborg pointed a finger to Robin's room, she immediately stopped and backed, begrudgingly, into her assigned room. Kid Flash tried to walk in, but Cyborg was remarkably quick to snag his collar and drag him off to their guest room they had installed for when Titans East came to visit them, the one Speedy had been using up till he left. As for everyone else, they slept through most of the day. Feeling they were safe enough to sleep until dusk, when most of their troubles usually began…and none of them were wrong.

When dusk crawled over the city, eating away at the confronting light, figures rose from the growing shadows to stalk whatever unfortunate soul crossed their path. Two such poor souls, a teenage girl and her girlfriend, on the pretense that all the vampire attacks were just a bogus tale spun by people, were walking the streets, heading for the nearest nightclub. What they got for their ignorance was to be snatched off the streets and dragged into a dark alley, clawed hands muffling their screams and tearing at their shirts to bare their skin for the hungry group of Nosferatu.

"Damn, this one is young!" one snickered to his companions. "Definitely underage, boys…Didn't you ever hear your mother tell you little girls shouldn't stay up at night?"

"Guess not, or she would have known that there were scary things that walked the nights for dumb bitches like her," another sneered, grabbing the girl's head and baring her neck to him. "…But I'm not complaining, I like it when my food comes to me." He bore down on her, his fangs stretching out to impale the sweet, creamy skin before him, when he stopped dead and reared back in pain, screaming in agonizing pain before he exploded into dust.

"…Had you heathens been even more knowledgeable, you would have known there was always something bigger and stronger to stomp on wretches like you," an educated voice said, speaking with a slight British accent in his otherwise elegant tone.

The Nosferatu turned to face the attacker, dropping the girls, and baring their fangs and claws at him, hissing threateningly.

"Who the hell are you?" one demanded.

The one responsible for the death of their comrade stepped forward, revealing himself to be a young man, no older looking than in his mid-twenties, with strawberry-blonde hair, cut short and spiky up top, and bluish eyes that pierced almost as if staring straight through everything. He wore what reassembled priest robes, but he also wore white, with silver-lined plated armor. He held no visible weapons in his hands or carried any, so it left the Nosferatu to wonder how he killed their comrade so quickly.

When he did not reply to them, the Nosferatu that had spoken pressed him. "Answer me, you bastard!"

"Holy Justice…" the armored priest said softly and disappeared from their sights. He reappeared behind them all, holding the girls now in his arms with closed eyes. "…The divine sword of God's Grace…"

The Nosferatu never got to even turn their shocked faces to him before they exploded into dust, screaming like their comrade had.

The armored priest put the girls down and motioned them with a pointing finger to depart. "Young maidens should never be out at night. Go home, now." He then started moving away from them before they had a cause to thank him properly. Without having to look back, he knew they ran back to their homes, hopefully, this experience will teach them not to attempt the sinful acts they most likely were planning on committing. He said a silent prayer for them for God to forgive them and continued toward his true destination…Titans Tower.

But, unaware to him, someone else was watching him, stealthily following him to the harbor and watched in amazement as the armored priest jumped into the water…and started walking on it toward the island. He brought up his arm, opening a secret panel in his gauntlet. "…All drones begin on converging on Titans Tower…Obtain the target and…destroy everyone else." He closed the panel and chuckled quietly to himself.

Not a single person in the tower, except for Sin, remained asleep when Jinx came bolting out of her room running, flinging her arms all about, screaming her lungs out. Kid Flash was the first one to step out into the hallway, bolting quickly after Jinx.

"Jinx! What's the matter?" Kid Flash asked, deeply worried.

Jinx kept on running. "She wanted to eat me!"

That was when Desdemona stumbled out of her room, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawning aloud. "…Where my morning snack go?"

"There she is! Waaaaaa!" Jinx shrieked and ran even faster down the hallway.

Everyone, groaning, came out of their rooms and proceeded to begin their daily routine, then met in the kitchen for their late 'breakfast'.

"Has it struck any of you odd that we sleep all day and do most of our crime-fighting even more at night now?" said a still sleepy Beast Boy, fixing himself tofu eggs.

"Nope," all of them said and continued fixing and eating their breakfast.

The Nosferatu came to join them. Jesse came in with a Cat-that-ate-the-Canary look and sauntered into the room and slung an arm around Robin's shoulder. "Hey there, handsome."

Robin shrugged her off of him. "I'm not in the mood for your games, Jesse."

Jesse didn't look deterred by his actions. "Aww, now how can you say that when you haven't even tried one of my games?" she purred that last word, licking at his earlobe and shooting Raven a mischievous look.

Raven replied with a look that could melt metal, her left eyebrow twitching in great annoyance toward the gunslinger.

Hornet was quick to keeping the atmosphere peaceful by grabbing Jesse's pants and yanking her off Robin and dragging her to the opposite side of the table. "Manners, Jesse, we're their guest here, remember that."

Jesse glared at him and pouted, going so far as to cross her arms under her chest and pucker her lips. "You always ruin my fun."

"Only when I know your actions will get us into trouble," Hornet retorted, calmly sitting down next to her and handing her a blood pack. He then turned his attention to Raven. "How is Sin's condition?"

"Not sure…he still looks like he's sleeping, well, like how a Nosferatu should sleep," Raven replied, sipping some herbal tea from her favorite cup.

Grimm grunted. "I guess the almighty Sin isn't has strong as he made himself out to be."

"You wouldn't feel too hot if someone fucked with your mind either, Grimm," Hornet said coldly.

Grimm grunted again and looked away.

Robin ignored Grimm's attitude and addressed Hornet. "It might be a good idea if we all stay in the tower tonight. With Sin recovering, we don't know what to expect from Stefan or some other powerful Nosferatu choose to strike at us right now."

"I was thinking the same…" Hornet admitted, scratching the side of his temple. "With Sin down, we're all only at half our strength."

"Half?! We can manage just fine without that joker around!" Grimm growled testily. "You always make it sound as if we're just children who can't do fuck without Sin holding our hands!"

Hornet stared at him blankly. "Because compared to the Sin, we really are children, Grimm. He's at a much higher level than we all are…maybe more than we even dream is possible."

"Bullshit!" Grimm shouted, slamming his fist down on the table. "He's just a sly bastard that's been lucky up until now!"

Ruby glared at Grimm. "Don't think so lowly of Sin…ever Grimm. If it weren't for him, we'd already be at the mercy of Stefan…and I shudder to think what he'd do to us just for fun."

That silenced the group, letting them finish their meal quietly, until one of the security alarms went off. Everyone moved at once. The Nosferatu drew their weapons, the ones that carried them; Hornet already had a small swarm out and buzzing hostilely, Freya's right hand glowed oddly and her wide, blank eyes gazed at everything. Ruby just stood with her arms crossed under her chest, waiting for whatever set the alarms off to show itself. Lynx looked about like a startled cat, ears flattened to his skull. Cyborg opened his intercom panel on his left arm to see what set the alarms off.

"Someone's triggered the beach's security lines, just one person from my readings, and whoever it is, is making their way toward the tower.

Robin cracked his neck, then his knuckles. "Then let's go out and meet our guest…"

They rushed out of the tower and got to the main entrance in time to meet the person that was trespassing on their island. He stood twenty feet with his arms crossed, as if expecting them to meet him outside like this. The armored priest scratched the side of his jaw as he contemplated the Titans and the Nosferatu with them.

"I had hoped that you young ones would have been the last to show up, but seeing you now next with those vile devils, I see you really are in league with them," the armored priest sighed. "Mores to pity…"

Robin clinched a fist. "Who the hell are you and what do you want with us?"

The armored priest shrugged his plated shoulders, looking all the more bored. "My name is of little consequence, but if you wish to know the one that will purify this city of its evil…it's Virtue…"

Jesse burst out laughing. "Virtue! Hah, hah! What kind of a dumb name is that!?"

"One a whore of the devil wouldn't understand," Virtue retorted curtly.

Jesse stopped being amused and aimed both her revolvers at him. "The fuck with ya!" She squeezed the triggers and fired two full rounds at the armored priest in two full seconds.

Virtue hardly seemed worried as the bullets came at him, didn't even try moving when the bullets were upon him. Just as they were about to rip into him or strike his armor, they were reflected by some invisible barrier around him, shimmering slightly, like ripples in a disturbed pond, until the barrier settled down and vanished from their eyes.

"The weapons of man will not harm a warrior of God," Virtue said confidentially, unfolding his arms from his chest and letting them fall to his sides. "Ye of the damned…be purified now!"

He raised a hand and in it was a small silver cross.

Beast Boy blinked at once, as did the others around him. "Uh…Okay, that was anticlimactic…"

"Ye of little faith…" Virtue murmured and his blue eyes shined brightly and the cross in his hand blazed into bluish light, firing a blast of that light in the shape of a cross the same size as Virtue.

"Titans! Separate!" Robin shouted quickly and rolled to the side to dodge the blast.

The Titans and the Nosferatu pivoted out of the way, letting the energy cross fly by them and incinerate an impression of a cross in the entrance of the tower.

"Ah man! Now I gotta order another door!" Cyborg groaned, shifting his arm into its Cannon Mode and taking aim at Virtue. "I've got nothing against you, man, but nobody trashes our place!" He fired and the Sonic energy, sadly, was deflected away by the barrier surrounding Virtue.

"Stand down, human. I have no desire to destroy you or your teammates…but I will see the ones who have been corrupted be," Virtue locked his eyes on Robin, then Raven, then Starfire. "Yes, I sense the evil in you. I can see the darkness swirling in you and tainting your souls…Pray that God will be more merciful to your damned souls than me…"

His words angered Raven. "Not everyone is born with a choice to be good, Virtue. Some of us are born with a deep seeded evil that we never wished…"

"Do not justify to me. That is God's role…mine is simply to send you to him!" Virtue replied and fired another blast in her direction.

Raven brought up a shield and blocked the energy cross…just barely. The power in that blast nearly shattered her shield and she oddly felt drained now.

"Your darkness cannot stand up against the power of God, child," Virtue said solemnly, looking truly sad. "Indeed, if there was some other way…if you turned to God for help, he may have given you a way to rid the evil in you."

"Shove it!" Robin roared and came at Virtue with a heel strike at his head. His foot bounced off the barrier but Robin rolled with the momentum and somersaulted a kick that, too, failed. Finding his tactic didn't work, he drew out an explosive Birdarang from his belt and threw it right in Virtue's face, leaping back away from him as the Birdarang detonated on impacted.

The explosion forced Virtue back, groaning as it shook him but otherwise he was unscathed.

Robin came at him again and threw two more explosive Birdarangs at him. This time, Virtue was ready and aimed his cross at the projectiles and blasted them in mid-air, knocking Robin off his feet from the force of the explosion. Starfire caught him and set him back down on his feet and took to flight and fired her starbolts at Virtue in rapid session. The starbolts actually proved to be effective. The first starbolt singed Virtue's arm and the others batted him down to one knee.

Virtue stared at the alien princess. "…How? How can an evil creature wield light?"

"Because my people are able to absorb sunlight, allowing us the gift of flight and to use starbolts," Starfire answered him, her eyes glowing brightly as were he hands. "I do not know of your religion and I hold no ill toward it, but I cannot condone your reason for attacking my friends."

Virtue looked honestly perplexed. "…You are not of this world?"

"No, I am what your people call an alien…I come from another planet," Starfire answered.

"But then…how is it then that you are tainted with evil?" Virtue asked her.

Starfire met his eyes with hers. "I was in a battle when I was infected, by accident, by a wereleopard…my lover."

Virtue stared up at her, with an even sadden expression. "…This is indeed grieving…" A tear fell from his eye as he raised his cross up at her. "…To have to end the life of someone who had been with the light." then shot an energy cross at her.

Starfire's eyes widened and shielded herself with her arms as she flew to dodge it. She missed it but the energy cross moved too fast for her to completely miss it, burning her right arm as it zipped past her and scorched another cross shaped mark on the tower. Lynx darted straight at Virtue, shifting into his half-form and with lightning crackling around his claws. He slashed at Virtue, sending sparks flying when they grazed his barrier and sending a stunning current of electricity through his armor. Virtue gasped slightly and slapped Lynx's muzzle with the silver cross, leaving his fur scorched and sizzling flesh.

Cyborg and Beast Boy tag-teamed. Beast Boy morphed himself into an armadillo and leapt into Cyborg's waiting hand.

"Yo! Head's up!" Cyborg shouted and threw the curled up Beast Boy like a basketball up into the air.

Halfway in the air, Beast Boy morphed into a T-rex and bore down on Virtue with his jaws and talons. Virtue jumped back in time to miss being squashed under the massive feet and rolled away from the powerful, snapping jaws. Beast Boy spun rapidly and slammed his thick tail across Virtue, making him drop his cross and crashing into a nearby boulder. Virtue was left stunned on the boulder and was forcing himself back up when Beast Boy stalked over him and came down over him with opened jaws.

"Enough!" Virtue roared and he grabbed Beast Boy's jaws with his hands and surprisingly halted his head. He planted his feet firmly and with a loud grunt, he lifted Beast Boy over his head and tossed him on the rocky terrain.

"Whoa! Did you see that?!" Jesse gaped. "He tossed that green elf like he was a sack of flour!"

"Stop admiring him and attack!" Hornet growled at her, unleashing a small swarm of hornets on Virtue.

His barrier prevented the insects from draining his blood, but that wasn't his intent. They buzzed over his face, making him swat at him and letting down his guard, long enough for his teammates to move in. Grimm dashed like a black blur and sliced at Virtue's calves and hamstrings, but again, that infernal barrier kept the priest safe. Freya pointed her glowing hand at the ground behind the priest and a red glyph materialized there. Ruby dashed up at Virtue and threw herself at him; rising her feet up in front of her to kick him back on the glyph. When he landed on the glyph, Freya flicked her hand back at it and triggered the glyph. A giant metal ball of fire fell out of nowhere right on top of Virtue, smashing him into the rocky ground.

Ruby picked herself up, dusting her red leather pants off. "Phew! This one was a pain."

Her brief moment to relax ended when the metal, flaming ball rose up from the ground and came right at her. She fell flat to the ground, letting the ball fly over her and crash near Freya, forcing the undead elf to stumble back. Virtue rose up from the hole, not so much a singe on his robes, and jumped out of the hole, slowly down as if gravity held no more hold over him and landed gracefully on his feet, right in front of Ruby. He reached down and grabbed a handful of her red hair and lifted her off the ground, staring at her hard and full of contempt.

"You have no hopes of beating me, Nosferatu," Virtue stated matter-of-factly.

Ruby gasped and clutched at his hand. "…E-Ever heard from your mother to never mess with a woman's hair!" Her red flaming hair moved like a living thing and wrapped around his hand, now that it was past his barrier when he grabbed her, the strands of hair slithered under his gauntlet and wiggled in until they lay against his skin. Immediately after that, Virtue cried out in agony and tried to force his arm away from Ruby.

"What trickery are you using, witch?!" Virtue cried heatedly.

"Heh, just a little trick that's saved my behind a few times with wily men, like yourself," Ruby replied, smirking innocently at him. "I can drain a person's blood with mere skin or hair contact in seconds!"

Virtue believed her. He could feel his blood draining through his arm quickly and robbing him of his strength. "…Vile demon…!"

"Sticks and stones, savvy," Ruby said, blowing him a kiss.

Virtue snarled at her and reached into his robes, drawing out another cross, only this one was more slender and bladed at the ends. With the bladed cross, he slashed at her hair, cutting it all with one slash and pulled free from her draining touch. The strands around his arm fell off, bleeding out the blood they stole form him on the ground.

Ruby hissed in great irritation and ran her hands through her now chopped hair. "…Fucking great!" She started fussing with it, but then, pivoted to the side when Virtue sliced at her with the bladed cross. "Whoa! You shouldn't be moving that fast! Not will all the blood I took from you!?"

"I'm fueled by God's power, nothing can stop me for long," Virtue replied and sliced at her again, this time, the bladed cross glowed and a blade of light extended from it and slashed her stomach.

Ruby cried out in pain and feel to her knees, folding her arms around her stomach. Virtue stood over her, staring down at her emptily and raising his glowing sword over her and brought it down. A split second before the blade met Ruby's head, a black claw grabbed her as Raven's soulself buzzed by, drawing the pirate into her and zooming out of harms way, then depositing her next to Freya, shifting back to her physical state. The Titans, Lynx, and the Nosferatu grouped up near her.

"Shit…what the hell is this guy?" Ruby groaned through her pain.

"The sword of God," Virtue replied solemnly, bringing the glowing sword up in a salute, or a prayer. Then all around him, blades of light materialized and zipped at them.

Spiked chains whipped all around them and deflected the blades, and then rewrapped themselves around Desdemona's gauntlet. "Nice try, dick."

Virtue frowned. "I see I will have to stop holding back. As a group you have proved to be a formidable force to reckon with, but nothing I am not able to handle."

He began to take a step toward them, when pink energy sailed through the air and dove into the ground under him and crumbled the rocks and hard dirt, almost burying him. Then a red and yellow blur buzzed around him and pummeled him with blurry fists, bashing him deeper into the ground, then darted away and zoomed back to Jinx, who held up her hands at Virtue.

"I think that's gonna be kind hard with you waist deep in the ground, pal," Kid Flash said, smirking confidentially as he rest his hands on his hips.

"A minor nuisance," Virtue replied curtly, planting his hands on the ground and pushing himself out easily.

Kid Flash darted back at him and started pummeling him again, but Virtue's hands glowed and he slammed the ground around him, a shockwave of brilliant light knocked Kid Flash, and blinding him in the process, and flung him to the ground where he laid motionless.

"Flash!" Jinx cried and ran to him, falling down next to him and pulling him into her arms. "Please, be all right…please!"

Virtue pulled himself out of the ground and dusted his robes off and re-energized his bladed cross, forming it into a sword again. "Valued effort…but futile all the same." He raised his sword and it hummed as he poured more energy into it. "But for your bravery, I will end this quickly…Heeyaaa!"

He slashed down and a pillar of light drilled into the ground and rushed toward Jinx and Kid Flash. Jinx closed her eyes and folded her arms tightly around Kid Flash and waited for the energy to burn her…

" _ **Demon Eye!**_ " Robin roared and his right eye fired a pillar sized beam and stopped the light pillar.

Virtue gaped in astonishment and landed his piercing blue eyes on Robin, focusing on his bleeding eye and grimacing. Robin brought his hand up to his bleeding eye and immediately stopped the flow of blood with the darkness that emitted on his fingertips.

"You possess a terrible power, young one," Virtue said, drawing his energy sword in Robin's direction.

"Great way to let all the negativity out," Robin jeered and drew his double-bladed staff.

Virtue and Robin charged each other, vanishing from sight it would seem. The Titans only saw flashes of when their weapons collided together and clashed again in another spot. The Nosferatu used the time Robin was buying them to regroup the injured. Hornet got Lynx as Freya got Ruby and carried them back into the tower to recoup. Starfire helped Jinx carry Kid Flash in and told Jinx to stay with them and rejoined he friends. She saw Cyborg pulling Beast Boy out of the rumble of rocks and helped steady him, until he shook his dizziness off and told Cyborg he was fine.

By that time, Robin reappeared in their vision, flat on his back with Virtue standing over him, pinning him down with one foot.

"As I've said, it's futile in the end," Virtue said grimly, pointing the end of his sword at Robin's throat. "You don't have what it takes to beat me."

"I've still a few tricks up my sleeves," Robin grinned and his whole body began glowing with violet energy. " _ **Devil's Dance!**_ " Robin vanished from under Virtue and blurred right up past him above him and floating down behind him.

Virtue began to turn when he grunted in pain and fell to his knees, crying out wildly.

"Sorry, pal, but you left me no choice," Robin said coldly. "I planted a little energy bomb inside you, absorbing your malice which will turn it against you and explode…"

"…D-Don't think it's over!" Virtue gasped, clawing at the ground with one hand as he tried to keep himself up.

His eyes flashed brightly and his body radiated a bright light and from his chest, a small purple orb dispelled from his body and dissolved into nothingness. The light around him didn't stop, it kept on growing and as it did, something grew from his back, forming into angelic wings and unfolded to their longest length. Virtue slowly stood and began floating above them all, surrounded now with a radiant halo.

"As I said…you have no hopes of beating me, foolish vampire," Virtue stated once again.

All of them stared up in disbelief and awe. The Nosferatu had to look away as the light burned at their sight, forcing them to back away from the brilliant being.

"…An angel?" Beast Boy whispered softly.

"Ah, man! What the hell next? Leprechauns?!" Cyborg groaned loudly.

"Look and despair, demons and mortals…your judgment has come!" Virtue decreed and pointed his sword down at them, then slowly raising it up and slashing down and sending another, even larger, pillar of light drilling at Robin.

Raven changed into her soulself and zoomed for Robin, wrapping her wings around him, but the pillar of light struck her and Robin, harming Raven even in her otherwise non-corporal form, forcing her back into her physical form and lying in agony on Robin, who too was injured greatly from the attack.

Virtue slashed again and another pillar rushed toward them. Robin wrapped his arms around Raven and tried readying himself for oblivion.

Virtue watched with grim satisfaction, but then, he jerked to the side in time to miss a black sword that almost impaled him. "What in the name…?"

The sword continued flying and glowed red and spun in the air slicing the pillar of light in half and burying itself in the ground just at Robin's feet. The split energy rush past them and exploded harmlessly behind them.

"You should have never come here, Night Crusader," Sin said, speaking out from the entrance of the tower with an empty blood pack in his hand, biting into another as he walked toward the angel.

Virtue narrowed his eyes at Sin. "And you believe you can stop me?"

"I don't believe. I know," Sin retorted confidently after finishing his blood pack and tossing the empty packs to the ground.

Virtue snorted defiantly at him. "Brave words, but I am a being created from God's light…no monster, no matter how powerful he is with the darkness can vanquish my light or faith!"

Sin chuckled deeply and ignored him, walking right past the baffled angel and took the sword by the hilt, and bent down on one knee next to Robin and Raven. "Is she all right?"

Robin looked down at Raven, seeing her moan slightly and shift a bit. "I think so…"

Sin sighed in relief and stood up, drawing his sword from the ground and pointing the blade up toward Virtue. "Had she died, hunter, you'd have unleashed a fury unlike you've ever seen in this world."

"I am not easily scared, demon," Virtue spat at him.

"Scared?...Oh, no, not yet," Sin growled lowly, his eyes glowing darkly with rage. "But you will be…I promise you that."

"You will fail as the rest of them," Virtue stated, floating down to touch with the ground again, bringing his sword up to strike.

Sin grinned devilishly.

He brought the tip of his blade down as he bent his knees and rested the length of his sword against his raised arm, hiding all his face but one eye in shadow, then his sword glowed crimson and blackened with dark energy. "Try me…"

Virtue disappeared in the blink of an eye and then reappeared next to Sin with a confident smile and slashed at his head. Sin flipped his sword up from his arm and blocked the attack, holding him back with one arm, then slid his blade down the length of the energy sword, sparking with dark energy, and pushed him away.

"Try better," Sin mocked, walking away with his back to him.

Virtue came back at him, slashing low at his back. Sin brought his sword behind him and blocked the strike, still not bothering to look at him.

"I said try better!" Sin growled and kicked him in the gut.

Virtue snarled at him in frustration and produced another cross and fired a cross-shaped blast at him. Sin spun on his heel to the side, ducking easily and coming back up smoothly as the blast roared by him.

"Humph, I see now," Sin grunted, turning to face him at last. "You're just a half-breed."

Virtue stopped dead on his feet and glared at Sin. "…What did you just call me?"

Sin began laughing wickedly, growing in volume. "You're only half an angel! The other part is human. I could tell from your attacks. Had you been a true angel, I'd be dust right this minute."

"Half or not…it'll be enough to make you ash before this night is over," Virtue promised, aiming his cross at Sin again.

Sin rubbed the side of his temple. "Look, Feathers. I've been having a few bad days lately, and I've got this killer migraine from hell. So I'm not in the mood to play with the likes of you."

"Play? You think this all nothing more than a game!?" Virtue shouted outrageously.

Sin grinned more at him. "Everything's a game, Feathers. There are the winners and the losers. It's all a matter of how you play at life."

"You damn monster!" Virtue cried. "Life is not a game, it's nothing to take lightly!?"

Sin locked his crimson eyes on his azure ones. "You have no idea of the meaning of life. What you know was probably forced feed to you by what your human masters wanted you to know."

"How dare you! Never insult my brethren, vampire!" Virtue hissed, firing another blast at him.

Sin sidestepped the attack as Virtue knew he would and launched himself at him and slashed again for his head. Sin parried the strike and elbowed him in the gut so hard the half-angel started seeing stars. He then spun again on his heel and rammed his other elbow in the back of his head, or would have had Virtue not batted at him with his wings, knocking him back.

Virtue retaliated again with stabbing his sword at Sin, forcing Sin to back away from him again, and then turned to face him and grip his sword with both hands, pushing more divine energy into his weapon and willed the blade to extend out. The tip of the energy blade pierced Sin in his side, burning through his clothes and through him completely. Sin grunted and ground his teeth together. Virtue followed up by pulled the sword up, slicing Sin from his side, up his torso and severing his arm from his shoulder…his sword arm.

"My brethren and I walk this world to purge it clear of all evil and guide humanity to live in God's grace," Virtue said. "I was blessed with my angelic powers by God to aid my brethren to achieve that goal. No bloodsucker, no demon will stop us from completing our divine mission."

Sin used the time he talked to hold his sliced off arm and torso back to his body, one of his belts blazed brightly and the blood gushing out of his body immediately started drawing itself back in and re-attaching his limp to his body, leaving not even a scar of the damage on his pale skin. During that time, he chuckled darkly.

"Divine mission? Ha, there's a real laugh!" Sin sneered, eyes shining mockingly. "There is nothing divine about what you people do. Killing people are the only thing your group has done since the day your organization was formed."

"Do not speak of things you do not know!" Virtue shouted at him heatedly.

"It's you who should not be speaking, Feathers," Sin replied, flexing his arm and rolling his shoulder. "I've been around long before your organization existed…and all because of one priest…what was his name again…?"

Virtue's anger froze and he tightened his grip on his sword. "…You can't mean...You know him…?!"

Sin snapped his fingers. "Now I remember! Cardinal Fredo Crune Bonacelli, yes, old Fredo…Hehehe, it's been a long time since that day we fought."

Virtue's radiant halo deemed a friction and he looked as if staring at a ghost. "You…you fought Father Bonacelli…the founder of the Night Crusaders?"

"And his death," Sin added with a hint of evil in his eyes. "Poor man just couldn't leave me alone; even after I let him go with his life so many times…he just never took the hint."

Virtue's halo blazed into a furious light, his sword crackled with energy and Virtue extended the blade again at Sin. "You're the one!"

Sin smiled at the half-angel and brought up his sword and energy danced around it and stopped the energy blade, splitting it in half as it did the light pillar.

"Anger is a sin, Virtue," Sin said rhetorically.

Virtue attacked again, slashing his sword and conjuring light blades and sending them at Sin when he blocked his strike. Sin kicked off the ground and kicked at the blades with his plated feet, sending them scattering around him as he landed to block another strike from Virtue. He pushed his sword down, forcing Virtue to go down with him, then he leaned forward and stood on his hands and flipped his left boot over his head and slammed his heel on the top of his opponent's head, using the rebounding force to flip him back on his feet. The half-angel growled in fury and stabbed the ground with his sword. Energy erupted right under Sin, covering him in light and blasting him flat on his back, this time, singed and smoking.

"D-Damn…guess I'm not as fully recovered as I thought," Sin murmured weakly to himself. "…Need more blood…"

"You'll never taste another drop of blood….Cardinal Killer!" Virtue vowed, standing up and posing his sword to attack. "I will avenge him and all my brothers that had died at your hands."

Sin pushed himself up on one elbow and laughed darkly. "Avenge? Hah! You have no idea the trouble I always go through to let you idiots live…but always, your bunch wants to start it first and I'm forced to kill you…"

"What lies are you speaking, vampire!?" Virtue growled, his halo glowing brighter.

"Nosferatu, boy-toucher," Sin snipped at him, pushing himself up enough to sit up. "It's always the same tune with you lot. Evil, evil, evil! Never once had you looked past what your eyes are able to see. Always following orders of some high patriarch who could give a crap about the men or women he sent to be slaughter for some idea of his."

Virtue slashed his sword and the blade extended out and sliced a deep gash in Sin's face. "Do not mock the deaths of my brethren or the Great Cardinal!"

That made Sin laugher more, ignoring his burning cheek. "Great Cardinal?! Is that what he made his little bitches call him? Oh, that's rich! There was nothing great about that man, just another butcher, only difference was he was a higher standing one at the time and slapped a holy label on it."

Virtue was almost trembling with fury, his eyes blazing like blue fire.

Sin scoffed at his anger. "You might think he was, giving what those old geezers running the organization probably taught you, but I'll tell you the truth." He had to duck back and roll to his feet when Virtue's sword almost cleaved his head off. "Like it or not, that man cared only for himself and his gain. It wasn't common back in those days, kill or be killed. That was the only way to gain anything back then or lose everything."

Virtue appeared to be ignoring him as he came at him again with an upward slash, which Sin barely stopped from slicing him in half. _'Shit…I should have gotten some more blood before I started fighting! Guess there isn't any other choice…'_

Sin waved his hand over Virtue's face an orb of darkness surrounded his head, blinding him and panicking him enough to retreat back and trying to shake the dark orb off. Sin leapt back away from him and planted his sword in the ground, then hurried to take his jacket off and hang it on his sword. He then started taking his connected belts off. As he did, Virtue roared and his bright halo radiated and pushed destroyed the orb around his head. He readied his sword but then stopped when he saw Sin removing his belts, unhooking a few from there secret hooks and quickly wrapping four of them around his wrists, then another four around his other wrist, with just two belts connecting them, resembling makeshift shackles.

"What are you doing?" Virtue asked him, bewildered. _'Is he insane? What is the purpose to restrain himself?'_

Sin grinned evilly and stretched his arms out, forcing all the belts to tighten like vices around his wrists. "Heh, heh…you'll find out in a moment. Tell me, Feathers…have you ever seen slaves fight?"

"Slaves?" Virtue uttered back, looking more and more confused. "Make sense!"

"I'll take that as a no," Sin replied, letting his arms fight against their bindings, getting them tighter. "There was a time when nobles would force their slaves to fight one another…problem was that they made these slave-fighters battle with their arms bound, to keep them from ever turning on the slavers or guards watching them." The glyphs on his belts began to slowly glow. "…But the slaves…the ones forced to fight and kill learned to fight without the use of their arms, forging a style that allowed them to fight and beat their opponents…this style was never given a name, for fear their masters would learn of it and then steal their secrets. The style was only taught to new slaves that were forced to fight…but only a handful ever mastered it."

"And you believe to defeat me with some weak slave technique?" Virtue hissed in distaste. "You sorely underestimate me."

Sin began to laugh manically. "It's you that's underestimating this technique, Feathers…As I've said, only a handful have ever learned to master it, but those few individuals that succeeded…were never defeated in a single battle."

Virtue grunted a laugh. "We shall see!" He dashed at Sin with his energy sword posed to thrust at him.

Sin stood his ground and waited for the right moment, then bent his knees and crouched low to the ground and twirled on his right foot, allowing Virtue to pass by him, and then planted his hands on the ground and with the momentum he built with the dodge, he swung his left leg up above him and struck Virtue in the back, surprisingly slamming him hard into the earth and cracking the hard dirt. Not stopping, Sin kept his foot planted on Virtue and brought his other foot down on him and stomped the base of his spine, forcing a cry of agony out of Virtue. The half-angel unfolded and batted his glowing wings at Sin, who dodged them by kicking off his back and flipping in mid-air and landed gracefully to his feet, grinning fiendishly.

Undeterred by his opponent's new tactics, Virtue yanked himself off the ground and took to flight, conjuring energy blades all around him and shooting them at Sin. The grinning Nosferatu back flipped and once again placed his bound hands on the ground and started rotating himself with his legs outstretched at neck-breaking speed and knocked the blades away from him with his plated boots.

"Whoa…Look at Sin go!" Beast Boy cheered him on.

"That Sin…always with a trick at the ready," Hornet mused.

"Instead of letting Sin fight alone again, let's help him! He's not at his full strength yet!" Raven advised.

"NO!" Sin growled at them, making them all stop. "He's too strong for any of you to beat…and I'm going to need all the room I can get with this fighting style in a few moments!"

"Sin…Are you sure?" Robin asked him in concern. "You're still weak."

"Doesn't matter right now," Sin grinned. "In a moment…no one will defeat me."

"You merely boast!" Virtue roared, bringing out another bladed cross and creating another energy sword with it. "I will smite you down!"

Sin straightened himself up, then crouched once more and dragged the toe of his right boot in front of him, creating a line in the dirt. "Come on then!"

Virtue dove at him and slashed his two swords in a cress-cross fashion, extending the blades at Sin. Sin ducked under one blade and flipped himself down to fall on his shoulder balancing himself there with his hands on the ground and let the energy blade hum over him, then pushed off the ground and somersaulted, kicking his left leg up in Virtue's direction. It crackled with energy when a blade of red energy shot from it and sliced through the air at Virtue. The half-angel darted to the side to miss the attack and slash at him again with his swords. Sin countered by back flipping again and each time from his left heel, he sent a crimson energy blade at Virtue, knocking his energy swords away and forcing Virtue on the defense, flying back and using his swords to block the oncoming assault.

Sin stopped his momentum by slamming his feet on the ground and when they did, the ground exploded and kicked up a great cloud dust behind Sin. He roared and bolted toward the half-angel with remarkable speed that left every where he step cracked and exploding to dust.

"…He's a devil!" Virtue proclaimed, hearng fear rising in his throat.

Sin darted from side to side to keep Virtue from focusing on him to attack. He leapt up at him and started kicking him, each blow being bounced back from the barrier protecting Virtue, but Sin didn't stop his mad assault, twirling in the air and building up more and more force with his momentum and pummeling Virtue with kick after kick. The more he seemed to attack, the brighter his belts shined and the same for his eyes, looking indeed like a true demon. All Virtue could accomplish was blocking as many kicks as he could with his swords or praying his barrier would be strong enough to resist. With the barrage and vicious force from Sin, his barrier unfortunately starting to crumble.

"How are you doing this?!" Virtue shouted at Sin, forcing his halo to intensify and burn him.

The light didn't do anything to halt Sin. He roared with flashing red eyes and spun in the air and struck Virtue over the head with the back of his heel and his barrier shattered, cracking like struck glass and crumbling down around him. Virtue received the full force of that blow and was sent spinning through the air and crashed to the ground.

"Damn! You know he's gonna feel that in the morning!" Beast Boy remarked, cringing from just the though of being hit like that.

"That's like getting hit by Superman…you just don't want it!" Cyborg added, also cringing and feeling really bad for the half-angel.

It would seem Sin wasn't done with him, because he let himself fall to the ground and slam both his feet on top of Virtue, but a new barrier glowed over Virtue and forced Sin back from him. He used the force to flip him back to his feet and crouched at the ready for whatever Virtue was going to do next. The half-angel blazed from the ground and created blades of light that circled around him and his new barrier.

"I admit you surprised me with that skill, but it won't do you any good if you cannot get near me," Virtue said.

Sin just laughed nonstop. "Doesn't matter now…you'll never beat me!"

Virtue didn't want to admit it to himself, but the confident way Sin had said it made him believe he just might not be able to. Steeling himself he drew forth more of his divine energy and focused it into one single Great-sword. "I will defeat you, Sin, as my main mission, as to all Night Crusaders, you will be laid down for your crimes against Cardinal Fredo and all you have slain for your pleasure!"

"I'll tell you what the real Cardinal Fredo was like! He used everyone around him for his own personal gain; that was what he really was! A human that cared for nothing but material wealth and power! He used all who came to him for guidance and hope like stepping stones to fatten his wallet and boost his ego," Sin declared hatefully. "At that time, I didn't care what he did. If he wanted to step on idiots that wanted to be used as rugs to clean his boots, I'd have never thought twice about them. I was perfectly content to be left alone…but then he started growing old, as all mortals do, and so he started looking desperately for a way to lengthen his normal life span." He smiled fiendishly at Virtue, his eyes shining with pure glee. "The man was so desperate he sent all his men to look for a way to do it…and that's when they started bothering me." He laughed hysterically. "Idiot men promising me God's forgiveness if I grant the Cardinal Immortality. How I laughed when I told them my immortality was a curse and the cost would be his fellow man's blood to sustain his life."

"Stop speaking your lies, monster!" Virtue demanded.

Sin ignored him. "When the fools returned to him and told him of my Immortality. You know what he ordered them to do then? I'll tell you. He ordered them to bring me to him, where he would 'accept' my curse!" Sin crackled more. "He was willing to become a demon like me! He was willing to sacrifice his fellow man's blood to keep his own existence! That's your damn hero, hunter! Just a scared old man who feared his own death. And how delicious it was to deny him that wish!" Sin let his laughter echo on. "I loved seeing his outraged look when I spat in his face and said I wouldn't turn him. That, my misguided angel, was the 'real' reason why he created the Night Crusaders, just to get back at me and kill everything that wasn't mortal like him."

Virtue looked torn and purely outraged, but even with the snarl on his face, his angelically handsome face held a grip of sadness to it. "No…that cannot be…you lie!"

"You're angelic blood would tell you if a creature like me was lying," Sin countered. "You wouldn't be this angry if it weren't."

Virtue had to close his eyes to keep the tears forming in his eyes from falling. It was true. Every word Sin spoke was truthful. He would have known in a heartbeat when he lied to him, but he couldn't believe it…there was no way he could accept the truth that the organization…his whole life was…

"I don't believe you!" Virtue cried and stormed toward Sin with divine rage burning in his blue eyes.

Sin grin grew impossibly wider. _'Got him!'_ Sin charged straight at him as if to meet him head, but at the last second, he fell to his knees and slid right under Virtue, bending at the waist to miss from being sliced up by the blades dancing around him. Once past him he flung himself forward and rolled to his feet.

Virtue halted in the air and spun back to face Sin ,but stopped when he saw Sin was beginning to glow with red energy.

"It's about time…to show you the true power of this skill!" Sin roared, laughing insanely.

The red energy radiated off his body like flames, grow and grow until he looked like a beacon of hell. "No one can match my power!" His energy spiraled out around him. "My form is completely perfect! No fist is stronger than mine!" Suddenly his muscles began doubling in size and straining his clothes and his belts, his hair whipped wildly above his head. " _NO ONE CAN MATCH MY FURY!_ " His eyes blazed like the lanterns of hell, filled with raw power.

"In heaven's name…!" Virtue gasped in fright.

Sin dashed at Virtue and struck his barrier with one kick, shattering a few of the blades protecting him and cracking his barrier. The other blades that spun around him moved to slice him to ribbons, but when they struck him they shattered to miniature fragments before disappearing. Sin was a blur of attacks, kicking, spinning, and jabbing his plated feet at vital points on Virtue's torso, destroying his barrier from pure force and ferocity. The kicks dented his armor, one blow landed on his face and splitting his lip badly, leaving his handsome face a bloody mess. Sin stopped his assault only long enough to drop to the ground and kick himself back up at Virtue and grapple his neck with his right foot and spun around, nearly breaking Virtue's neck and leaving him disorientated. Sin yanked his leg and pulled Virtue with it and slammed him face down on the rocky ground.

Finally, Sin stopped his raging assault and the red energy around him steamed off him, his muscles reverting back to their normal size, as if his body was cooling down as he panted from exhaustion, falling down to his knees. "…And I think that's all I can do." He then collapsed flat on his face.

"Sin!" Raven and Robin cried at once and ran to him.

They fell to their knees and rolled Sin onto his back. Raven cradled his head into her lap. "Sin! What were you thinking! You didn't have to fight him all by yourself, not in your state!"

"Yeah, but what exactly did you do just now?" Robin asked in amazement.

Sin grinned weakly up at the two. "…Heh, It's a technique that summons up all the user's inner energy, doubling his strength and power and speed to empower their body and attacks, I used my belts to use what energy I had left in me to summon up enough when I used the skill…As you just witness…it's a nasty technique to use on someone…hehehehe. Ow!" he yelped when Raven punched his head.

"Idiot! That was dangerous what you did!" Raven almost screamed at him.

Sin whimpered. "…I was just trying to protect you guys…oww…"

Raven easily let her temper go and patter his head. "I know…just don't scare us like that again."

"But I like scaring," Sin joked, smiling up at her, chuckling weakly.

Raven and Robin laughed with him and started to help him up, when he suddenly pushed them off of him, a beam of bright light slamming right into his chest, striking back down. "…That's gonna string later…"

Raven turned to see Virtue rising up form the ground, his hand glowing threateningly up toward them. The side of his head was bleeding, but that looked to be only injury he had, other than his dented armor. "No demon can stop me…"

Sin glared at him defiantly, then down to where the light beam blasted him, finding a clean small burning hole straight through his chest. "Yep, that's gonna string alot…"

"…Humph, that should have killed you, but I should have expected an old one like you not to be killed by so weak of a feeble attack like that," Virtue grunted in annoyance. "I must say that skill of yours was powerful…but not enough to beat me." He placed his glowing hand on his armor and it began glowing and the dents and damage done to it began to repair itself. The blood stopped gashing from his head wound and the blood disappeared from his skin. "As you can see, it's pointless to fight me. With the light as my strength, I can repair any damage you inflict on me."

Sin pushed himself up enough to sit on one knee. "Funny thing about light, if you gaze too long at it, you'll never realized you've become blind…"

"Hah! Only someone who has turned his back to the light would say something like that," Virtue snipped.

Sin pushed himself, weakly, onto his other knee and slowly and shakily got on his feet. "N-Not everyone is meant to be born to follow the light…that's what makes us unique…what it means to be human, Virtue. We have a choice, though, I admit I'm bitter that my choice was forced out of my hands a long time ago, but I've never regretted my choices. I'm a being of the darkness and I will not change what I am."

"Then you are doomed to be destroyed," Virtue stated, raising his hand back up and pointed a finger at Sin.

"You closed-minded idiot…" Sin growled.

"I tire of your petty insults, monster," Virtue replied in irritation. "I see that's all that's left in you…To think, I was taught to fear you…the Cardinal Killer, the great Bloody Devil…Hah! All I see is a pathetic vampire, like all the others, that's about to meet his end."

"…Looks can be deceiving, Virtue…but you've forgotten one important thing while we've been fighting," Sin grinned.

"And what would that—!"

" _ **Lightning Ripper!**_ " Lynx roared, slashing Virtue with his electrical attack over his back, shredding one of his glowing angelic wings, almost cutting it completely off.

Virtue let out a cry that pierced everyone's ears. He swung about and backhanded at the wereleopard, but Lynx had already leapt clear from him, circling around to stand next to Sin. Virtue raised a hand to blast Lynx, but then Robin jumped in front of Lynx and his right eye blazed.

" _ **Demon Eye!**_ " Robin shouted, firing another massive beam of negative energy.

The beam scorched Virtue's raised hand, forcing him back in more pain.

" _Azarath, Metrion Zinthos!_ " Raven chanted and black energy rippled from her waving hands and sliced at Virtue's armor, cutting through his chestplate and the chain-mail under the robes of his left arm.

From over head, a barrage of starbolts rained down over Virtue, forcing him to shield himself with his arms and his good wing. Then a beam of Sonic energy struck him where Raven had sliced his chestplate, bringing out another cry of agony from the half-angel, then the ground shook under them all as a green Triceratops charged and rammed its shield, tri-horned head behind Virtue, flinging him into the air to crash heavily on the rocky terrain.

All the Titans circled around Sin, crouched and ready to attack should Virtue try and attack again.

"That thing you forgot…" Robin said sternly.

"Was that Sin wasn't alone…" Raven finished with a stern voice, too.

"And you forgot…you were messing with the Titans," Sin said, grinning all the more. "There's more to them meets the eyes, Feathers…Remember that."

Virtue picked himself up from the rocky terrain, using his divine energy to repair his broken wing, then the wounds on his chest and arm, then repaired his armor. "All I see are lost souls that have been taken in by your evil, vampire!"

"NOSFERATU!" All the Titans shouted.

Virtue grunted and stood himself back up on his feet. "It matters not no more…I see that this island is too corrupted to anyone to be saved…I pray this city isn't."

Sin got a really bad feeling suddenly. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means…I will have to cleanse this island and purge all the evil dwelling on it," Virtue replied, rising to the sky with his arms outstretched and beginning to radiate light all over his body. "I had prayed that I would not have to resort to this…but you have left me with little choice..."

Sin watched him fly up high into the sky and fear clinched his throat. "…Everyone…Get out of here!"

Hornet ran over to them with the rest of his teammates. "What's the matter, Sin!?"

"No time! Clear this island!" Sin cried, motioning them with his bound arms to move.

"It is too late!" Virtue said in a booming, melodious voice. "Judgment has come!"

The night sky began to brighten, as if the dawn was rising, but the way the light was appearing was wrong. This light was appearing over them, not from the horizon. The Titans, Lynx, and all the Nosferatu looked up high over Virtue, and dread. From the heavens a giant missile of light was rushing down over their island.

" **Gospel Crusher!"** Virtue roared and brought his arms down.

The missile of light speeded down faster, illuminating the island and everyone on it.

"Shit…" Sin cursed, slumping his shoulder.

A/N: Yes, I'm mean. To leave everyone with that cliffy, but that's life. XD, but that's, and I'm sure everyone agrees with me, is what makes a story catching. Now then, about Virtue, I'm sure everyone is wondering more about him, where did he come from? How did he become what he is and why is he making them all look like whimps. That and more will be explained later, but for now, know that he's going to have quite a large role in this story.

As for Sin's technique, the inspiration for it came from the anime "Shadow Skill", Yes, I changed the battle chant around, but I didn't want to make it a total rip-off from the anime…and I don't need lawyers coming to my door about copyrights and whatnot…My pits already full of there kind…and they burn very slowly.

I hope this story still is bringing entertainment for everyone who reads it, if so, then please allow me to know by leaving a review, thank you.


End file.
